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How smoking was stubbed out by rising prices
Just one in 10 Britons now light up a cigarette as the cost of a packet of 20 has soared past £15 due to rising taxes.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show how just 11 per cent of the British population aged 16 and over smoked last year - compared to 45 per cent in 1974.
The decline in smoking rates has come as the average price of 20 king size filter cigarettes rose from £1.44 in 1987 to £14.59 last month.
The cost of smoking has now risen even further due to action taken by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt at his Autumn Statement yesterday.
In his latest financial package, Mr Hunt increased the duty rates on all tobacco products.
Around 80 per cent of the price of a packet of cigarettes is made up of tax, with ministers having regularly used a tobacco duty escalator over the past three decades to hike levies.
In his Autumn Statement, Mr Hunt increased tobacco duties by the current escalator of two percent above inflation.
He also hiked the duty on hand-rolling tobacco by an extra 10 per cent on top of the escalator.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the UK. NHS England estimated there were 74,600 deaths attributable to smoking in England in 2019.
An analysis by ASH found there was a £14billion cost to society in England each year from smoking. As well as £13.2billion in lost economic productivity, this also included an extra £2.4billion cost to the NHS and a further £1.2billion in social care costs due to smoking.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH said: 'Smoking is a drain on society.
'It's a cost to individuals in terms of their health and wealth and a cost to us all because it undermines the productivity of our economy and places additional burdens on our NHS and care services.'
Source: Daily Mail, 23 November 2023
See also: ONS - Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2022 | ASH - £14bn a year up in smoke – economic toll of smoking in England revealed
Editorial note - The ASH analysis has been updated and published in the latest All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health report. See here.
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Cost of helping people in Hampshire to quit smoking is revealed
New data shows Hampshire County Council is spending £682 per person to help them quit smoking, while Portsmouth and Southampton invested £1,064.19 and £1,044.78, respectively.
The amount includes the cost of prescribed medication such as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), bupropion (including branded medicine Zyban) and varenicline (including branded medicine Champix).
In recent publications, NHS Stop Smoking Services revealed the cost of local authorities helping people to quit smoke. It showed more than five million adults in England still smoke, and smoking remains the single biggest cause of preventable illness and death in the country – linked to 64,000 deaths a year.
During its recent Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee, a report showed a continuing trend for rising numbers of referrals of pregnant smokers to the stop smoking service during 2022/23. There are also rising numbers of pregnant smokers setting a quit date, quitting for four weeks, and remaining quit after 12 weeks. It also said the NHS Long Term Plan tobacco dependency programme has increased collaboration across the system.
As part of the Government’s plan to create a ‘smoke-free generation’ by 2040, it is anticipated that the county council will receive £1.5m per year in additional support until 2028/29, the majority of which is expected to be spent on expanding the Hampshire Stop Smoking Service.
As announced at Autumn Statement 2023, the duty rate on all tobacco products have increased by the tobacco duty escalator of two per cent above RPI inflation. The duty rate for hand-rolling tobacco rose by an additional 10 per cent, to 12 per cent above RPI inflation.
Source: The Portsmouth News, 23 November 2023
See also: Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England - April 2023 to June 2023
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New Zealand’s Next Government to Scrap Law Curbing Tobacco Sales
New Zealand’s vaunted laws aimed at making the country smoke-free will be repealed by its new center-right government.
Legislation banning tobacco sales to people born after 2008 will be dumped by the new administration, according to coalition agreements released Friday in Wellington. The new government, which comprises the National, ACT and New Zealand First parties, will also stop a plan to reduce in the number of retail outlets allowed to sell cigarettes.
“This is major loss for public health, and a huge win for the tobacco industry whose profits will be boosted at the expense of Kiwi lives,” said Boyd Swindon, co-chair of the Health Coalition Aotearoa.
Recent research showed the smoke-free regulations would save NZ$1.3 billion ($790 million) in health system costs over the next 20 years if fully implemented, and reduce all-cause mortality rates by 22% for women and 9% for men, he said.
The new, National-led government said it will repeal those amendments by March next year, change vaping product requirements and apply tax to smoked products only. The policy was advocated by the nationalist New Zealand First party, which says it supports “age-appropriate access to nicotine, which in adults is generally as safe as caffeine is.”
Data released in late 2022 showed New Zealand’s smoking rate fell to 8% of adults smoking daily in the year through July 2022, down from 9.4% a year earlier.
Source: Bloomberg, 24 November 2023
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Report - Holding us back: tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drink
A new report released by a coalition of health charities has laid bare the £31bn productivity cost to the economy from alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy foods. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) and the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA), have joined forces to outline the scale of harm caused collectively by tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drinks, which are major causes of death and chronic disease.
The coalition is calling on Government to put in place a comprehensive strategy to prevent ill-health from commercially driven risk factors, and redress the balance between industry influence and the public’s health.
The four recommendations made in the report were for the Government to take a coherent policy approach to tobacco, alcohol and high fat, salt and/or sugar foods, with a focus on primary prevention. Second, saying that health should be prioritised through a cross-government approach to prevention, that public health policymaking must be protected from the vested interest of health-harming industry stakeholders. Finally, that spending on prevention should be treated as investment.
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NCSCT - Vaping: a guide for health and social care professionals
At the E-Cigarette Summit last week, Martin Dockrell on behalf of the NCSCT launched a guide for health and social care professionals on vaping. They stated that the reasoning behind the guide was because “Healthcare professionals have an important role to play in ensuring that people who smoke have accurate information about vaping founded upon evidence.”
The guide was written to summarise the information about vaping and address issues relevant to health and social care professionals and to stop smoking practitioners in particular, bringing together the research that has been conducted on electronic cigarettes over the last few years.
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Speeches from the Leadership for a Smokefree Future Conference in the North East
On the 27th of September Fresh hosted a regional conference at reducing tobacco smoking rates below 5% across the North East and North Cumbria.
Colleagues from across the region came together for the tobacco control conference with inspiring national and regional speakers, who explored the latest evidence base, reflected on challenges, made system level commitments to reduce smoking.
Below are links two of the speeches made:
Deborah Arnott - Chief Executive, Action on Smoking and Health
Arnott reflected on the decline of smoking prevalence in the UK and the correlation between lowering rates and impactful legislation such as the raising of the age of sale to 18 in 2007 and the “smoking kills” warning put on packs in 2002.
Arnott cited the most recent government proposal to raise the age of sale for tobacco by one year, every year, for those aged 14 and below and encouraged attendees to respond to the consultation. She finished by calling for a “polluter pays” levy on tobacco companies in addition to a price control scheme.
Watch here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFEuiGHn1OY
See also: Big tobacco must follow energy and banks to pay its fair share from its excessive profits | ASH FAQs: creating a smokefree generation
Ailsa Rutter - Director of Fresh and Balance
Director of Fresh and Balance Ailsa Rutter gave an overview of the North East approach to reducing smoking prevalence, the role of regional collaboration and reflections on their achievements.
Rutter showcased an example of the campaign developed by Fresh and reflected on what made their campaigns successful: purpose, partnership, principles and persistence.
Watch here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7nsCeI93UQ&t=3s
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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