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Queen's Speech 2022: Key points
The Queen’s speech yesterday, 10th May, highlighted some of the 38 laws that ministers intend to pass in the coming year. This includes some bills carried over from the previous session of Parliament, which ended last month, and a number of bills included in past Queen's Speeches.
A Levelling up and Regeneration Bill will give councils new planning powers, including to force landlords in England to let out empty shops to rejuvenate high streets.
Changes to business rates, the property tax paid by companies, will be introduced via a Non-Domestic Rating Bill.
A Brexit Freedoms Bill will give ministers new powers to overhaul EU laws they carried over after the UK left the EU.
A new Bill of Rights will deliver a longstanding Conservative pledge to replace provisions in the Human Rights Act.
The speech contained a reference to protecting the Good Friday Agreement, but did not mention specific legislation to give ministers new powers to abandon the Northern Ireland Protocol.
An Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will strengthen the investigatory powers of Companies House and aim to increase corporate transparency.
A Social Housing Regulation Bill will increase regulation of the social housing sector and give tenants new rights to information.
A draft Mental Health Bill will overhaul the mental health system in England and Wales.
Source: BBC News, 10 May 2022
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Government paves the way for its ‘new model of combined authority’
The government has revealed more details of what to expect from its Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which aims to hold the government to account for its levelling up missions and create a "new model of combined authority".
The landmark Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will enable areas to directly elect a "leader" or "governor" under county deals rather than only using the term mayor, as LGC revealed last week. Notes accompanying the Queen's Speech state local leaders will be able to "increase their ability to reflect local preferences in arrangements including directly elected leaders’ titles". More changes to facilitate the adoption of a mayoral model are expected to follow.
The bill places a duty on the government to set levelling up missions, and produce an annual report on their delivery. It will create a "new model of combined authority" through county deals, which will "provide local leaders with powers to enhance local accountability, join up services and provide transparent decision making to rejuvenate their communities".
The government’s commitment to facilitating new infrastructure is also contained in its proposals for a UK Infrastructure Bank Bill, which gives the bank powers to lend directly to councils and invest more than £600bn in public sector gross investment over the next five years.
Source: Local Government Chronicle, 10 May 2022
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Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust figures reveal record low smoking in new mothers
Smoking in pregnancy has been an ongoing concern in the Humber and North Yorkshire for many years, with rates remaining over the national average of 9.6%.
However, figures show that in Quarter 3 of 2021/22, for the first time in the East Riding, smoking at time of delivery (SATOD) rates fell to 9.2%.
The YOURhealth Stop Smoking Service launched the Smokefree Generation campaign in the East Riding in recent years, asking people to pledge to kick the habit and help make the region smokefree in future years.
Natalie Belt, service manager at YOURhealth, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The number of babies being born in the East Riding to a mother who smokes remains a concern and something we are working to reduce.
“Our service actively supports mothers and their families to go smokefree. We have free, on-site support and nicotine replacement therapy in local areas and it is great to see these efforts are making a difference.”
Source: The Scarborough News, 10 May 2022
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Scotland: Detection dog sniffs out £18,000 haul of illegal cigarettes
Detection dog, Boo, helped locate a haul of hidden illegal cigarettes worth £18,000 in Aberdeenshire last Friday, 6th May.
The illegal contraband was hidden inside the empty casing of a printer placed on a shelf in a shop storeroom.
A larger haul of illegal cigarettes was later found at the property after Trading Standards obtained a court warrant to search the premises.
The search was carried out as part of Operation CeCe, which is part-funded by HMRC, with the aim of tackling the supply of illegal tobacco and cigarettes.
Gordon Buchanan, Aberdeenshire Council’s protective services manager said: “It is one of the largest seizures of illicit tobacco and tobacco products that we have had in Aberdeenshire to date, and the staff and Boo must be praised for the careful planning and execution of the operation.”
Source: STV News, 10 May 2022
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US: Effort to ban sale of flavoured tobacco and nicotine products in Colorado goes up in smoke
A bipartisan effort to ban the sale of flavoured tobacco and nicotine products, including menthol cigarettes, in Colorado, was rejected by a state Senate committee yesterday (10th May), pushing the issue back to cities and counties.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 5-2 to reject House Bill 1064, with Democratic Senators Robert Rodriguez and Rachel Zenzinger joining the three Republicans on the committee in voting against the measure.
A number of cities and towns in Colorado have passed flavoured nicotine and tobacco bans, but several mayors have requested state action as they say a patchwork of policies wouldn’t be effective.
State Rep. Kyle Mullica, a prime sponsor of the bill, said the measure’s demise was “incredibly disappointing” and that he would continue to push for a ban on flavoured tobacco and nicotine products.
He said the well-funded tobacco industry was, at least in part, responsible for the bill’s failure.
They had “business on the line,” Mullica said. “But when we look at policy down here, I don’t know how we don’t put the health of our kids first.”
Altria and another tobacco giant, Reynolds American, respectively spent $149,000 and $173,000 on lobbying in Colorado from July 2021 through to the end of March.
Source: The Colorado Sun, 10 May 2022
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CLARIFICATION: Tobacco use in prisons - a neglected public health issue
We would like to highlight that all prisons in Great Britain are completely smokefree indoors and outdoors, with the exception of open prisons. This was not made clear in the World Health Organization article included yesterday regarding tobacco use in prisons in Europe. Please see our briefing on the implementation of smokefree prisons for more information.
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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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