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The Spending Review failed to tackle critical issues such as reforms to local government funding, sector experts have warned.
The Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) said the 4.5% increase in spending power for local government would come predominantly from council tax increases and the social care precept.
Karen Sanderson, director of public financial management at CIPFA, said: “While the statement was flush with cash in some areas, others were considerably lacking. A 4.5% increase in spending power for local authorities will be absorbed by increased social care costs off the back of the pandemic and higher costs from the rise to the national minimum wage. This announcement also did nothing to address key structural issues, including reform to local government funding and social care.”
Source: LocalGov, 26 November 2020
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Thousands of illegal cigarettes and more than one kilogram of counterfeit tobacco were seized during a town centre shop raid.
A Southend Policing spokesman said: “Great work between Southend Trading Standards and our Town Centre Team who have seized 9000 illegal cigarettes and 1.7 kilos of counterfeit hand-rolling tobacco from a town centre shop. The owner faces prosecution and a significant reduction in illegal earnings.”
Source: Echo, 27 November 2020
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Milan is to ban smoking at bus stops as well as in stadiums, parks, children play areas, dog areas, and generally within a 10-meter radius from other people with effect from 1 January 2021, after the city council approved new measures to improve air quality.
The legislation, which also includes a gradual phasing out of installing new diesel-powered heating systems, comes ahead of an outright ban on smoking in all public outdoor areas, from 1 January 2025.
The new rule, named “Regulation for air quality”, is aimed at “reducing Pm10, meaning the polluting particles harmful for the lungs, and safeguarding citizens’ health from active and passive smoke in public areas and places attended by children,” the city administration declared.
The new smoking ban adds to the list of interventions that Milan’s municipality has implemented to make the city greener and more sustainable.
Source: Forbes, 25 November 2020
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NHS Digital has published statistics on NHS stop smoking services in England for Q1, 2020/21. Key findings from the data include:
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There has been a reduction in the number of smokers setting a quit date compared to Q1 2019/20 (36,418 compared to 52,915 last year) but higher quitting success rates (58% compared to 50% last year).
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The number of under-18s setting a quit date has more than halved compared to Q1 2019/20 (331 compared to 822 last year) although quit success has increased among this group (47% compared to 39% last year).
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There has been a significant increase in the number of pregnant women setting a quit date (4,385 compared to 3,324 last year) and higher quit success rates (49% compared to 43% last year).
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The proportion of CO verified quits fell to 2% due to the pause in CO monitoring following the COVID-19 outbreak. PHE & NHSE have now recommended that CO monitoring and face-to-face stop smoking support can resume.
The data is available online.
Source: NHS Digital, 25 November 2020
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NHS Digital has published the quarter 2 2020/21 smoking at the time of delivery (SATOD) data for England. Key findings from the data include:
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The percentage of women recorded as smoking at the time of delivery for Q2, 2020/21 was 9.9%, equating to 14,000 women.
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This compares to 9.8% for Q1, 2020-21, and represents a slight decline from last year’s annual figure of 10.4%.
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21 out of 135 CCGs met the national ambition of 6% or less.
The data is available online.
Source: NHS Digital, 26 November 2020
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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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