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** 23 October 2024
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** UK
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** Wales confirms date for disposable vapes ban (#1)
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** NHS to see 4% rise in budget, but health chiefs remain concerned (#2)
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** Limiting new fast-food outlets could reduce childhood obesity (#3)
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** Parliamentary activity
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** Written questions (#4)
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** UK
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** Wales confirms date for disposable vapes ban

The Welsh government has confirmed plans to ban the sale of disposable vapes, the regulation will come into place on the 1st of June 2025. The move is part of the government’s plans to tackle litter and pollution and reduce waste.

Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies stated that the Welsh Government is working closely with the UK Government and other devolved governments to align the start dates for the ban on single-use vapes. This coordinated approach aims to ensure consistent enforcement and high compliance across the UK.

She also stated that the date given should give businesses the necessary time to prepare.

The number of adults vaping in Wales is at an all time high, figures from Action on Smoking and Health Wales (ASH Wales) show an 11% prevalence in 2024, compared to 8% in 2023. It was also revealed that 80% of Welsh adults support a ban on the importation and sale of disposable vapes.

Source: ITVX, Tuesday 22 October 2024

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** NHS to see 4% rise in budget, but health chiefs remain concerned

The NHS is set to receive an increase to its budget of 4% in the spending review, due on the 30th of October. This could amount to a £7bn cash increase to funds available to the health service, however NHS chiefs are claiming that this would not be enough to deliver Labour’s key promise of cutting the backlog of people on NHS waiting lists.

The Department of Health and Social Care said discussions were ongoing and declined to comment.

A multi-billion pound increase to the NHS budget will be a significant change to the last Conservative government. The most recent conservative budget gave the NHS just a 0.2% rise in real terms. There are concerns that pay deals will eat up much of the 4% promised by Labour.

Rachel Reeves is expected to increase capital funding for health trusts in her budget to address the deteriorating NHS infrastructure and purchase new equipment like scanners. The NHS Confederation estimates the need for £6.4 billion annually for the next three years to address issues such as collapsing roofs and malfunctioning equipment.

While discussions with the Treasury on capital funding have been positive, Reeves is resisting calls for an emergency cash injection of £1-1.5 billion to tackle the current backlog and avoid a potential "NHS winter crisis." NHS leaders warn that winter demand, alongside flu, Covid, and RSV, could overwhelm hospitals, and are urging for more immediate funding to address urgent care needs.

Source: The Guardian, 18 October 2024

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** Limiting new fast-food outlets could reduce childhood obesity

New research at Lancaster University shows that planning policies to restrict the number of new fast food outlets leads to fewer overweight and obese children in those areas.

The study took place in Gateshead where planning rules were changed to prevent any existing non-fast food commercial property from being converted to a hot fast food takeaway.

The research looked at deprivation measures and found that those in the areas with the highest proportion of fast food outlets, the Gateshead neighbourhoods were associated with a significant reduction in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity, compared to other deprived neighbourhoods in the North East.

Source: Medical Xpress, 23 October 2024

See also: Planning policies to restrict fast food and inequalities in child weight in England: a quasi-experimental analysis ([link removed] )
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** Parliamentary activity
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** Written questions

Asked by Paul Holmes, Conservative, Hamble Valley

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 42 of the Institute of Fiscal Studies' report entitled The outlook for the public finances in the new parliament, published on 10 October 2024, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential implications for its policies of the Office for Budget Responsibility's estimate of the impact of the generational smoking ban on revenue from tobacco excise duty by 2060.

Answered by James Murray, Labour, Ealing North, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury

The Government is committed to delivering its two key objectives on tobacco duty; to raise revenue and protect public health. High taxes reduce the affordability of tobacco products and supports the Government\'s objective to reduce smoking prevalence. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be the biggest public health intervention in a generation – tackling the harms of smoking and paving the way for a smoke-free UK. Alongside the Bill, DHSC will publish an impact assessment which will include an estimate for the impact on tobacco duty receipts. The Government has consulted on proposals for a Vaping Products Duty. This would seek to discourage non-smokers and young people from taking up vaping and to raise revenue. The responses to this consultation are being reviewed and we will respond in due course. As with all taxes, the Government keeps tobacco duty rates under review during its Budget process.
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** See also: UIN 8897 ([link removed])
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**
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** Asked by Andrew Rosindell, Conservative, Romford

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's polices on rates of tobacco duty of the Office for Budget Responsibility's report entitled Dynamic scoring of policy measures in OBR forecasts, published on 9 November 2023, in the context of the Laffer curve.

Answered by James Murray, Labour, Ealing North Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury

The Government is unable to speculate on tax measures outside of fiscal events. As with all taxes, the Government keeps tobacco duty rates under review during its Budget process. The government accounts for the behavioural impact of tax changes when making tobacco duty policy decisions.
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** See also: UIN 8780 ([link removed])
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**
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** John Glen, Conservative, Salisbury

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answers of 13 September 2024 to Questions 4350 and 4352 on Smoking, whether his Department plans to ban (a) smoking and (b) vaping in (i) public gardens and (ii) outdoor recreational spaces at (A) 10 Downing Street and (B) 70 Whitehall.

Georgia Gould, Labour, Queen's Park and Maida Vale, Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office

The Government will soon introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which stands to be the most significant public health intervention in a generation and will put us on track to a smoke-free UK. Action on smoking will help to reduce 80,000 preventable deaths, reduce the burden on the NHS and reduce the burden on the taxpayer. The Department of Health and Social Care will set out more details soon.
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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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