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Smoking rates in Great Britain continued to decline last year, according to official figures released yesterday (7 December). According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), usage dropped from 15.8% in 2019 to 14.5% in 2020. This equates to 7.6 million adults over the age of 16, down from a high of just under 27 million in the 1970s, when half of all adults smoked.
Rates have consistently dropped over the past two decades, with officials declaring the end of smoking to finally be “in sight.” England aims to go completely smoke-free by 2030. Some studies had suggested covid lockdowns and the stresses of coping with the pandemic would trigger a rise in the number of smokers in Britain.
The ONS data showed smoking in men dropped from 17.9% to 15.3% during the year and from 13.8% to 13.7% in women. It decreased in all age groups for men but increased in women aged 35 to 49 (from 14.3% to 15.1%), 50 to 59 (14.6% to 16.1%) and 60 and over (8.7% to 9.1%).
However, the ONS admitted the poll may be less reliable than previous years because of changes to the way data was collected during lockdowns. Its data showed that smokers were more likely to admit to smoking when surveyed face-to-face than over the phone or online, meaning the drop-off in in-person interviews could be behind the large fall.
Source: Daily Mail, 7 December 2021
See also: ONS - Smoking prevalence in the UK and the impact of data collection changes: 2020
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Former NHS England chief executive Lord Simon Stevens has called for significant changes to the government’s Health and Care Bill. Lord Stevens made the demands in his maiden House of Lords speech yesterday.
Lord Stevens called for greater transparency in the letting of contracts to the private sector and a curb on the powers the bill gives to the health secretary. Lord Stevens also backed an amendment proposed by House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee chair Jeremy Hunt which would force the government to publish independent workforce projections biennially.
The amendment was defeated in the House of Commons, but Lord Stevens said he supported the insertion of a similar measure by the Lords into the Bill. Lord Stevens rejected the idea that the bill encourages privatisation of the NHS. However, he said the legislation should be strengthened to ensure the process of awarding contracts to the private sector is “transparent and fair.”
Addressing the clauses inserted by former health secretary Matt Hancock, which would give the health secretary more direct power over service reconfigurations, he said “the bill should not “centralise” decisions “best made locally.” Lord Stevens also said “the bill itself is not yet perfect. We have an opportunity to strengthen provisions for social care and mental health.”
Source: HSJ, 7 December 2021
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The United Kingdom saw a record rise in the number of deaths caused by alcohol misuse last year, as experts warn covid lockdowns fuelled dangerous drinking habits. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), deaths caused by alcohol in 2020 increased by almost 19%, marking the biggest rise since records began. There were 8,974 deaths from alcohol-specific causes registered in the 12 months period, up from 7,565 deaths in 2019 – the highest year-on-year increase since the data series began in 2001. It bucks a trend in which fatalities from alcohol remained stable for the previous seven years.
In England, the number of people drinking more than 14 units a week increased after the first national lockdown, according to surveys by Public Health England (PHE) and has remained at similar levels since. As pubs shut, drinking at home soared, with off-licence beer sales rising 31% and spirits 26% compared with 2019.
Scotland and Northern Ireland continued to have the highest rates of alcohol deaths, but the fastest rises were in Wales and England. The sharpest increase in deaths in England was in the West Midlands, followed by the South West and London. Nearly twice as many men died as women, which is consistent with previous years.
Referring to the government’s unveiling on Monday of a new drug strategy, Sir Ian Gilmore, the chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: “[We] fail to understand their complacency on this other drug of dependence, alcohol. Our poorest communities suffer most from alcohol harm, and so if our prime minister is serious about ‘levelling up’ he must back the robust plans for drugs with an alcohol strategy that seeks to turn this tragic trend around.”
The picture for smoking is less certain. Official statistics released on Tuesday showed a drop in smoking from 14% of over-18s in the first three months of 2020 to 12% for the rest of the year. However, statisticians cautioned this was “implausible” and highlighted a change to the survey method from face-to-face to phone. Another survey, of over-16s, which did not change its methodology, found a statistically insignificant decrease in smoking in Great Britain, from 15.8% in 2019 to 14.5% in 2020.
Source: The Guardian, 7 December 2021
See also: ONS - Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2020
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A trading standards operation saw 20,000 cigarettes and 4 kg of tobacco seized at three Scarborough shops. Specialist tobacco detection dogs were used to find concealed tobacco and cigarettes.
Councillor Derek Bastiman, North Yorkshire County Executive Member for Trading Standards, said: “The supply of illicit tobacco will not be tolerated. We will continue to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to these matters and use every enforcement technique at our disposal to disrupt this activity.”
Source: Planet Radio, 7 December 2021
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The Denver City Council approved a ban on most flavoured tobacco and vaping products on Monday (6 December). From July 2023, adults will only be able to buy flavoured tobacco products in the city at hookah lounges or shops offering pipe tobacco and handcrafted cigars.
The flavour ban ordinance passed by a vote of 8-3 Monday. The vote ends a months-long debate between council members who argued that limiting access to flavoured products was essential to fighting youth smoking and vaping and members who viewed the ban as government overreach more likely to hurt small business owners than make a dent in the youth nation’s vaping epidemic.
Council members Amanda Sawyer and Debbie Ortega co-sponsored the bill. It took three committee meetings and a public hearing in the council chamber on 29 November to reach Monday’s outcome.
Source: The Denver Post, 6 December 2021
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PQ1: Smoking
Asked by Baroness Merron
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish their updated Tobacco Control Plan.
Answered by Lord Kamall, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care.
We are undertaking further policy development to support the Tobacco Control Plan, which will be published in due course.
Source: Hansard, 7 December 2021
PQ2-3: Tobacco - Taxation (Grouped Answers)
Asked by Baroness Merron
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made as to whether revenues from a ‘polluter pays' charge could be used towards the delivery of their Smokefree 2030 programme.
Asked by Baroness Merron
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recommendations to introduce a ‘polluter pays' charge on tobacco manufacturers; and whether the forthcoming Tobacco Control Plan will include such a charge.
Answered by Lord Kamall, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care.
The Department is currently assessing a range of policy and regulatory proposals for consideration in the development of the new Tobacco Control Plan. However, no specific assessment has been made of a polluter pays charge on tobacco manufacturers or whether revenues from this charge could be used towards achieving the Smokefree 2030 programme.
Source: Hansard, 7 December 2021
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