(City of
Durham) (Lab):...An Action on Smoking and
Health and Cancer Research UK report published in January
looked at the state of local stop smoking support and found that
among the local authorities that still had a budget for stop
smoking services, 35% had cut that budget between 2018-19 and
2019-20. That was the fifth successive year in which more than a
third of local authorities had cut their stop smoking service
budgets. Financial pressures caused by the cuts to public health
funding and the wider pressures on local government finances are
the major reason for that. The public health grant, which funds
local authority tobacco control, has been cut by around a fifth in
real terms since 2015-16, falling from £4 billion in ’15-16 to £3.2
billion now...
(Blaydon) (Lab):...Despite work in the NHS, progress has
not been made anywhere near swiftly enough. There are big
variations in the performance of different parts of the country. In
a soon-to-be published analysis, Action on Smoking and
Health finds that rates of smoking in pregnancy have
increased in the past five years in a third of clinical
commissioning groups, while declines have been seen in less than
half, or 44%. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Government
seem so unlikely to achieve their ambition of reducing rates to 6%
by 2022. In the north-east, we continue to have some of the highest
rates of smoking in pregnancy in the country. These are driven by
high levels of disadvantage in the region, but, unlike in some
regions where rates have even increased, rates in the north-east
have fallen in the past five years, from 17% in 2016 to 15% in
2020. Progress has been driven by the regional tobacco programme in
the north-east and by the work of NHS England, Public Health
England and local government...
(Winchester)
(Con):...I say that because there is growing evidence that adult
smokers’ misperception of the risks surrounding vaping may be
preventing them from transitioning to less harmful alternatives.
Last month the excellent UK charity Action on Smoking and
Health, otherwise known as ASH, which
campaigns against smoking and is run by Deborah Arnott, published
survey data showing that vaping in the UK had stagnated as a
percentage of the total smoking population, after year-on-year
growth. The charity blamed what it called
“unfounded concerns about the relative safety of e-cigarettes”
as a likely cause...
(Strangford) (DUP):...There is a concerning loophole in
our regulations: while it is illegal for e-cigarettes to be sold to
children under 18, according to advice from trading standards, it
is not illegal to give them out as free samples to anyone of any
age. Could the Minister give us direction on that? How can we
ensure that things are done correctly? I hope the Minister is aware
of the article in The Observer in October that highlighted
that a supplier working on behalf of British American Tobacco was caught
handing out samples from BAT’s popular e-cigarette
brand to a 17-year-old without carrying out any kind of age check.
That contravenes the spirit, if not the letter, of the regulations.
Given the importance of balancing the needs of smokers against any
impact on young people, it is vital that a review of these
regulations is undertaken. Will the Minister set a timeline for
just that?
(Nottingham North)
(Lab/Co-op):...Similarly, it would be good to hear a recommitment
to national level quitting campaigns, because in their
heyday—2008-09—public spending in this area was in the tens of
millions. It is not anymore and PHE’s budget for anti-smoking
campaigns, including Stoptober, which was estimated in 2012 to have
generated an additional 350,000 quit attempts in England—a
fantastic figure—has fallen substantially now to £1.8 million,
which is a quarter of what it was six years ago. Again, these
things work. The Department clearly recognises that, and we should
recognise the work that PHE did with Action on Smoking and
Health during the pandemic on “Today is the Day” campaign,
which was targeted at those communities where rates are the
highest, including the City of Nottingham, and we are grateful for
it. Therefore, those things work and I hope that we can hear a
recommitment in due course...
The Minister for Health ():...Action on Smoking and Health has
estimated that around 1 million smokers may have made a quit
attempt during the pandemic, and that is good news. The Government
have provided funding to support ASH’s “Today is
the Day” campaign, to enable the stop smoking message to reach as
many smokers as possible in some of the most deprived areas, and I
pay tribute to ASH for its work. Public Health England’s Better
Health Stoptober annual campaign has also continued at a national
and local level to support people quitting during the
pandemic...
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