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** 27 October 2021
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** UK
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** Budget 2021: Sunak promises a new post-Covid economy (#1)
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** Warrington: Council chiefs vow to address health inequalities (#2)
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** Cigarette started Wolverhampton house fire that killed two men (#3)
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** Scottish councils probe harmful vape pens circulating in schools (#4)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Parliamentary questions (#5)
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** UK
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**
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** Chancellor Rishi Sunak will set out his Budget this afternoon, pledging that it will start “the work of preparing for a new economy” post-Covid.

Spending plans for transport, health and education have been unveiled in the press - but Mr Sunak is under pressure to help people with rising prices. Policies include £5.9 billion for NHS England and pay rises across the public sector. But the Treasury has already asked departments to find “at least 5% of savings and efficiencies from their day-to-day budgets”, - so it is clear not every area will get the same treatment.

Policies already unveiled from the chancellor’s Budget include:
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** £6.9bn for English city regions to spend on train, tram, bus and cycle projects - including the £4.2bn promised in 2019 alongside funding for buses announced by the PM in 2020
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** £5.9bn for NHS England to tackle the backlog of people waiting for tests and scans
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** A rise in the National Living Wage from £8.91 per hour to £9.50, to come into effect from 1 April
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** £2.6bn to be spent on creating 30,000 new school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities
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** £1.6bn over three years to roll out new T-levels for 16 to 19-year-olds and £550m for adult skills in England
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** Mr Sunak will announce the rest of his plans after Prime Minister’s questions later this afternoon. But the chancellor has been under sustained pressure to go further and set out measures in his Budget to help families cope with the rising cost of living.

Adam Scorer, chief executive of fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, warned it would be a “brutal and bitter winter for millions of householders” who were unable to bear the costs of energy price rises. He called for the chancellor to find a way to put some of the extra tax receipts raised by the price increases back in the pockets of the most vulnerable.

Source: BBC News, 27 October 2021

See also: The Guardian - Rishi Sunak will use budget to declare ‘age of optimism’ ([link removed])
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** Council chiefs are vowing to address Warrington’s health inequalities as it was revealed women in the town are expected to live more than three years longer than men. It comes amid major concerns over the coronavirus crisis, increasing health inequalities, and deprivation.

Overall, life expectancy has increased in the UK over the last 40 years, albeit slower in the previous decade. The latest life expectancy figures cover the period 2018 to 2020 and, therefore, include deaths resulting from COVID-19.

Warrington council says the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact locally, nationally and globally and that it knows the impact has “not been evenly distributed.” The council says there are many strands to addressing the long-term impact of the pandemic, including working with NHS partners to help target some of the interventions to where they are most needed to address inequalities and improve health. Such as increasing uptake of cancer screening programmes, working to help residents prioritise a healthy lifestyle to recover from the impact of coronavirus while achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, having an active lifestyle, reducing alcohol consumption, and stopping smoking.

Source: Warrington Guardian, 26 October 2021

See also: ONS - National life tables – life expectancy in the UK: 2018 to 2020 ([link removed])
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**
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** An investigation has found that a cigarette is believed to have caused a house fire that left two men dead. The men, in their 40s, were inside the property in Wolverhampton when flames broke out at about 02:00 am on Monday (25 October 2021).

One was confirmed dead at the scene, and the second man died later in hospital, West Midlands Police said. West Midlands Fire Service said it believed the cigarette ignited a sofa.

Pete Wilson, West Midlands Fire Service’s strategic lead for prevention, said: “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this awful incident. It is a stark and sobering reminder of the fire risks associated with smoking. We are urging all smokers in the West Midlands to take extra care.”

Source: BBC News, 26 October 2021
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**
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** Several Scottish councils are tackling a worrying trend of “unsafe and illegal” vape pens circulating in schools. Council officials in Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Aberdeen, and North Lanarkshire have all issued warnings over the products - with the latter suggesting some children have “coughed up blood” after using them. They say the vape pen is often designed to look like a school highlighter and in bright packaging “to appeal to young people.”

The alarm was initially raised after a parent complained to the council. Aberdeen City Council Trading Standards officers seized many of the same illegal vape pens valued at about £900 last week amid concerns of more underage children having access to them. Like in North Lanarkshire, the vape pens were designed in a colourful way and in alternative shapes to target young customers. They included flavours like fruit, mint, cotton candy and are designed to look like highlighters and make-up pens to allow them to be used discreetly.

Scottish Government guidelines for e-cigarettes states that they must be child resistant. Council areas in Scotland are continuing to monitor the situation to stop them from reaching the possession of school children, and further investigations have commenced to find out the source of the counterfeit e-cigarettes.

Source: Herald Scotland, 26 October 2021
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** Parliamentary Activity
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**
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** PQ1 -2 Electronic Cigarettes: Excise Duties (grouped questions)

Asked by Charlotte Nichols, Warrington North

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount that HMRC lost in duties on vaping products as a result of smuggling in each of the last three years.

PQ2: Asked by Charlotte Nichols, Warrington North

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HMRC raised in duties on vaping products in each of the last three years.

Answered by Helen Whately, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury

Vaping products, such as e-cigs, are currently taxed as a consumer product with the VAT rate being 20%. There is no excise duty on vaping products.

HMRC does not hold information on VAT revenue from vaping products because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level on their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.

HMRC estimates tax gaps, which encompass taxes and duties lost as a result of smuggling. The Department publishes estimates of the VAT gap using a ‘top down' estimation approach which would capture any smuggling of vaping. However, our method does not allow us to identify individual items separately within the total VAT gap.

Source: Hansard, 26 October 2021
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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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