This Record is a digital tombstone. The data files associated with this record were destroyed/deleted on the 16 April 2026 in line with the approved retention schedule. 

Public health researchers and practitioners have repeatedly called for policy to be informed by academic evidence. The rise of the evidence-based medicine movement has demonstrated the potential benefits of using evidence for clinical decision-making. Recently, politicians and policy documents have echoed these calls for increased use of evidence in policymaking by drawing upon the discourse of evidence-based policy. However, efforts to understand the relationship between evidence and public health policy are underdeveloped and often make limited use of knowledge from other fields, including political science and sociology. This study aimed to explore the relationship between evidence and public health policy in the UK using two contemporary case studies: the English public health White Paper, ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People’; and the development of minimum unit pricing of alcohol in Scotland.