Politics
Tobacco Control Plan voices grow louder, ban cigarettes plea, and further questions asked in Parliament
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by Dave Cross
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London councillors have demanded by letter that the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steven Barclay, publishes the long-overdue Tobacco Control Plan. They say it is urgently needed if the government is to achieve its 2030 smoke free target and London is to get a grip on tobacco.
The councillors believe that a levy on tobacco companies and raising the age of sale from 18 to 21 is the only way to protect young people and combat the almost one million smokers in the capital city.
Lambeth’s Jim Dickson said: “Tobacco products are having a big impact on the poorest in our boroughs. We would like the government to refocus on its smokefree ambitions and Publish a Tobacco Control Plan without delay, giving due consideration to the recommendations made by the Khan Review.
“We’d also like to see a levy placed on tobacco companies to fund the support smokers need to stop, and to prevent children in London from taking up smoking. We are also calling for consultation on raising the age of sale for tobacco products from 18 to 21, to protect young people from a lifetime of tobacco addiction.”
Tory MP Bob Blackman agrees. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health Chair wants to see a major shake-up of cigarette laws. He said: “I will be calling on the government to publish a Tobacco Control Plan to deliver the smoke-free 2030 ambition without further delay. I’ll be urging the government to listen to retailers who want government to implement tougher regulations, that’s what they think will be good for business, not de-regulation.”
Hazel Cheeseman, ASH’s Deputy Chief Executive commented: “Government commissioned The Khan Review to find out what was needed to meet its goal of a smokefree England by 2030. It reported in June, Government must now act. Delivering a smokefree 2030 will protect the NHS, improving health and economic prosperity for the poorest people in London. The funding to do this can be levied from an industry that makes excess profits from people’s addictions. Why would you not do it?”
ASH Chief Executive Deborah Arnott added: “To achieve a smoke-free 2030, the government needs to ratchet up regulations to support smokers to quit and to prevent young people starting to smoke.”
In the House of Commons, Labour’s Peter Dowd asked the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care what assessment has been made of the progress in meeting the Government’s smokefree targets and whether he plans to retain those targets.
New in post Neil O'Brien responded: “We are on schedule to achieve or exceed our targets on youth and adult smoking, including reducing the number of 15 year olds who regularly smoke from 8% to 3% or less. The most recent data available shows that smoking rates in the population are currently 13.5%. No decisions on the retention of these targets have been made.”
The Bootle MP followed up by asking the Secretary of whether the Department has held discussions on the steps that could be taken to encourage adult smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives.
Neil O'Brien replied: “Since 2014, we have provided evidence-based information and guidance for clinicians and healthcare professionals on vaping. This includes guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, online training and printed advice, blogs, videos and the publication of ‘Nicotine vaping in England: 2022 evidence update main findings’ in September 2022.
“We also recently published online information on the benefits of smokers switching to vaping, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/vaping-to-quit-smoking
“The Office of Health Improvement and Disparities is based within the Department of Health and Social Care. The Department is currently considering the recommendations made in ‘The Khan review: making smoking obsolete’, including those related to vaping. This includes encouraging adult smokers to switch to vaping.”
Labour’s Andrew Gwynne, the MP for Denton and Reddish asked the Secretary of State if he will commit to publishing a smoking action plan.
Responding on his behalf, O'Brien said: “We are currently considering the wide range of recommendations set out in the independent Khan Review, published in June. No decisions have been taken on the publication of a new Tobacco Control Plan.”
Dan Carden, the Labour MP for Liverpool and Walton asked when the Department will publish the Tobacco Control Plan.
The Minister for Primary Care and Public Health repeated: “We are currently considering the recommendations made in ‘The Khan review: making smoking obsolete', published in June. Further information will be available in due course.”
In other news, Rishi Sunak has hired health adviser Bill Morgan. Morgan previously worked for ex-health secretary Andrew Lansley between 2010 and 2012 and as a SPAD for then Health Secretary Steve Barclay during the summer. He enters the post with the big idea of improving NHS England by making all of its top leaders move into the Department of Health and Social Care’s offices. That should solve everything.
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.
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