Parliament 1
Liberal Democrat Daisy Cooper has posed questions to the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
-
by Dave Cross
Share on:
Referring to The Khan review: making smoking obsolete, the representative for St Albans, Daisy Cooper MP asked the Secretary of State for Education what assessment has made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendation to include the risks of and age restrictions for vaping in the school health education curriculum.
Will Quince, the Minister for School Standards told her: “The relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance includes content on drugs, as a supplement to drug education which is part of the national curriculum for science in Key Stages 2 and 3.
“The guidance sets out that in both primary and secondary school, pupils should be taught the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks, including smoking, alcohol use, and drug-taking. Additionally, in secondary school, pupils should be taught the associated legal and psychological risks of taking drugs.
“To support schools, the department published a suite of teacher training modules and non- statutory guidance. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health. This includes a module on drugs, alcohol and tobacco, which makes specific reference to e-cigarettes (vaping) and includes information on the age restrictions and laws around both legal and illegal drugs to protect young people.
“The department is developing plans for monitoring implementation of RSHE over time, including measuring teacher confidence in teaching the statutory requirements, and whether additions or other changes to the curriculum will be required.”
Then, addressing the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Daisy Cooper asked what assessment has been made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendation to review the way flavours are described and the flavours themselves.
She followed this with a question asking what assessment has been made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendation to prohibit vaping companies from giving away vapes for free.
Finally, Daisy Cooper wanted to know what assessment the Department of Health and Social Care has made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendation to ban cartoon characters and images “appealing to young people” from vaping products.
Maggie Throup, the Minister for Public Health responded that, “the Government is considering the recommendations from the Khan Review, including measures to protect children and young people from starting vaping. We are assessing options such as potential benefits of banning cartoon characters and images which are appealing to children and the merits of prohibiting free samples. We are also looking at flavours and the appeal for young people. In response to the Review, we will publish a new Tobacco Control Plan in due course.”
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
Join the discussion
Cochrane Review Echoes Swedish Success
The Cochrane Review echoes the Swedish approach, finding less harmful alternatives like vaping are superior to other quit methods, says Smoke Free Sweden
-
by Dave Cross
Dental Experts Consider Pouches
Three dental experts have looked at tobacco-free nicotine pouches to see what benefits they offer quitting smokers or travelling vapers…and if they pose any risks
-
by Dave Cross
New NCSCT Vaping Briefing
The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training has released its updated guide to vaping aimed at health and social care professionals
-
by Dave Cross
Anti-Vape BMA Goes Again
The British Medical Association continues to swim against the tide of public health opinion as it undertakes a review of the “growing epidemic of vaping”
-
by Dave Cross
