Tobacco Control Strategy
Background
In Summer 2017, the government published its new national strategy, Towards a Smokefree Generation: Tobacco Control Plan for England (2).
More recently, in 2021, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health proposed recommendations for the review of the Tobacco Control Plan (3). Following this, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care commissioned an independent review into the government’s current tobacco control policies.
The Khan Review: Making Smoking Obsolete (2022) put forward 15 recommendations for the government. Both reviews were considered as part of the updated national Tobacco Control Plan (4).
In October 2023 the government published Stopping the Start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation. This paper set out four key headline proposals, these include:
- The first smokefree generation
The government will bring forward legislation making it an offence to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. This will stop children turning 14 or younger in 2023 from ever legally been sold cigarettes.
- Supporting people to quit
The government is investing an additional £70 million per year (England only) to support local authority-led stop smoking services.
There will also be provision from the government of additional funding for national campaigns to explain the changes, the benefits of quitting and the support available.
In addition to the above the government is also investing £45 million over a two-year period in a national ‘Swap to Stop’ scheme supporting one million smokers to swap cigarettes to vapes and up to £10 million will also be provided over a two-year period to provide evidence-based financial incentives to support all pregnant smokers to quit (England only).
- Youth vaping
Conducting a public consultation on a set of proposals to reduce youth vaping, ensuring the balance is right between protecting children and supporting adult smokers to quit.
- Strengthening enforcement
The government will provide an additional £30 million funding per year, for England, to support enforcement agencies such as trading standards, Boarder Force and HMRC to implement and enforce the law and tackle illicit trade.
In October 2023 the government launched a public consultation: Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping, which ended on 6 December. In February 2024 the results of the consultation were published, and the government will now bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity that will support the government to achieve its ambition towards a smokefree generation (5).
Our local strategy reflects the key ambitions and targets outlined in the plan to deliver a Smokefree 2030.
The national strategy focuses on four main areas:
- The first smoke free generation
- A smoke free pregnancy for all
- Parity of esteem for those with mental health conditions
- Backing evidence-based innovations to support quitting
Achieving a smoke free generation will serve to significantly reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes from birth and beyond.
