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** 28 January 2021
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** UK
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** CCG mergers will still go ahead in April, says NHS England (#1)
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** Imperial Brands to refocus back to cigarettes (#2)
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** Northern Ireland: Man convicted after being caught with over 380,000 illegal cigarettes (#3)
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** International
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** Taiwan: Vendors unlawfully sell cigarettes to teenagers, report finds (#4)
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** UK
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** Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) planning to merge in April can still do so, despite the demands the coronavirus pandemic has placed on their systems, NHS England has said.
In a letter sent to all system leaders on Tuesday, 26 January 2021, NHS England said mergers of clinical commissioning groups should be “complete by April 2021.” The letter confirmed that a range of reporting and assurance requirements are suspended due to COVID-19, much of which has been the case since the spring. It says NHSE “oversight meetings” with local areas will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
NHS England’s legislation proposals published late last year, said all sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) are required to become integrated care systems (ICS) by April this year. The document made it clear that there must only be a single CCG for each ICS, which tightened previous NHSE guidance saying ICSs should “typically” have a single commissioner. Although, NHSE has not yet said which are due to merge this year.
The letter, signed by NHS England’s chief operating officer Amanda Pritchard, said: “We will keep this work under review to ensure it continues to enable collaborative working and does not create undue capacity constraints on systems.” Ms Pritchard also said the Department of Health and Social Care was reviewing whether “regulations should be amended” to extend the 30 June deadline for systems to submit quality accounts. Additionally, NHSE/I will work with cancer alliances to prioritise delivery of long-term plan cancer commitments that “free up capacity and slow or stop those that do not.”
Source: HSJ, 27 January 2021
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Imperial Brands is pivoting back to cigarettes, an area that the new chief executive said had been “neglected” as the UK tobacco group became “overly focused” on vaping devices and other alternative nicotine products.
On Wednesday (27th January) Stefan Bomhard, the chief executive, laid out his five-year strategy. Imperial will target cigarette sales in the UK, Spain, Germany, Australia, and the US, which make up roughly 72% of profits from combustible tobacco.
The company will also take a more “disciplined” approach to alternative products, adjusting its strategy depending on the market, namely: heated tobacco in Europe, vaping in the US and oral tobacco in Scandinavia, which has a long tradition of snus.
Cigarette sales have been boosted during the coronavirus pandemic, but Imperial has previously warned that it expects the benefit to unwind as consumers, many of whom have been shielded by government subsidies, were likely to be hit by “recessionary effects”.
Source: Financial Times, 27 January 2021
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** A 32-year-old man was sentenced after being caught smuggling thousands of illicit cigarettes into Northern Ireland. Wang Jie Chen had £20,000 in cash and 15,000 cigarettes when the car he was travelling in was stopped in Belfast in 2017. Track and trace postage numbers were also found in the vehicle. Chen failed to appear in court on the matter and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
HMRC also intercepted parcels at a Belfast sorting depot and seized 46 packages addressed to Chen, containing 200,000 cigarettes hidden inside 270 rucksacks.
Chen was apprehended in June 2020 and appeared at Belfast Crown Court on 17 December 2020 where he pleaded guilty to tax evasion. The total number of cigarettes seized during the entire operation was 382,780, and the total value of tax evaded was £186,063. He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, at Belfast Crown Court on 27 January 2021.
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Source: Sunday World, 28 January 2021
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** International
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** A government-commissioned report has found that teenagers are able to easily buy cigarettes at over a third of the 660 stores inspected across Taiwan. This is despite legislation prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18.
The randomly selected businesses included grocery stores, internet cafes, convenience stores and other sellers nationwide. The investigation was conducted from April to October 2020, with the buyers posing as high school students in uniform. The report shows that 47.6% of teenagers could buy cigarettes at grocery stores and internet cafes, 41.6% at betel nut stands, 27.2 % at convenience stores, and 21 % in supermarkets and hypermarkets.
Wang Ying-Wei, the director-general of the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) which commissioned the investigation, said the problem stemmed from a lack of training and information among vendors. Under the Act, people who sell cigarettes to buyers under 18 are liable to a fine between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000. Wang added the HPA is looking to amend the Act soon, to raise the fines to a maximum of NT$250,000.
Source: Focus Taiwan, 26 January 2021
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