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** 5 September 2022
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** UK
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** Thérèse Coffey expected to take charge of stricken NHS (#1)
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** Scotland: New law banning smoking around hospital buildings comes into force today (#2)
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** Bolton report: Trade in illicit tobacco named as top priority (#3)
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** Iceland to partner with Fresh Del Monte to promote NHS Healthy Start scheme (#3.5)
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** ‘Cost of living’ handouts to Britain's richest bosses (#5)
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** International
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** Ireland study: Teenagers more likely to vape if their parents smoke (#6)
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** UK
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** Thérèse Coffey expected to take charge of stricken NHS
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**
Liz Truss is preparing to appoint one of her closest political allies as health secretary, suggesting the NHS will be a key priority to her government. Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, a position she has held for almost all of Boris Johnson’s premiership, is frontrunner for the task of steering the service out of the pandemic and dealing with a crisis in emergency care.

Coffey, 50, was tipped to be chief whip but is thought to have preferred the challenge of leading a department. In recent days, she has received briefings on the NHS from Sir Chris Wormald, permanent secretary at the Department for Health, and will be briefed too by Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, leading to widespread belief in government that she will take the helm next week. No other ministers or prospective ministers are thought to have been given such a detailed briefing on the state of the NHS.

Truss has signalled that social care must take priority for extra money over the NHS and Coffey will have to decide whether to pay more to help solve a staffing crisis that has left 160,000 vacancies in settings such as care homes. Coffey is understood not to have set out plans at the briefings however, instead largely focusing on experiences of the NHS in her Suffolk Coastal constituency.

Truss has engaged little with health in her campaign, other than expressing frustration at its inability to do more on a £150 billion budget, saying: “It seems to me that something isn’t working, because the money’s going in.” Truss’s team however is preparing three statements for parliament next week on the economy, energy and the NHS, reinforcing speculation that addressing issues in the health service will be a top priority.

Steve Barclay, the current health secretary and a backer of Rishi Sunak for the leadership, is not expected to receive a significant job from Truss.

Source: The Times, 3 September 2022
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** Scotland: New law banning smoking around hospital buildings comes into force today
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A new law has come into effect today, meaning people can no longer smoke within 15 metres of a hospital building. The rule supports the voluntary smoke-free hospital grounds policy first introduced in 2015, and is part of the Scottish Government's plans to create a tobacco free Scotland by 2034.

Anyone found to be smoking within 15 metres of a hospital building could face an on the spot fine of £50 or a fine of up to £1000 if the case is taken to court. The new law applies to NHS hospital settings used for patient treatment and care, and includes a ban on smoking beneath overhanging structures.

Public health minister Maree Todd said: "Everyone knows that smoking is bad for our health and hospital patients in particular should be protected from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. This new law is the latest step in our bold plan to make Scotland tobacco-free by 2034 - building on our dedicated stop-smoking services and early intervention measures to stop youngsters picking up the habit altogether.”

Source: Glasgow Live, 5 September 2022
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** Bolton report: Trade in illicit tobacco named as top priority

Illicit tobacco has been named as one the most serious and prevalent crimes affecting Bolton - in many ways outstripping even the trade in hard drugs. A recent meeting of the council heard how the trade has become a mainstay for criminal gangs, affects communities all across the borough, and is now the area of highest demand for the authority’s trading standards department.

The Place Scrutiny Committee heard that illicit tobacco trading is often linked to other serious organised crimes carried out by large organisations including people smuggling, money laundering and trafficking in drugs like heroin and cocaine. Much of this is controlled by criminal organisations, far above street level, who then sell the illegal products on to smaller shops. Anonymous quotes from residents claimed that “people have moved homes because of these shops” and that “these people are dangerous".

Illicit tobacco has also held back efforts to reduce smoking rates to 5%, with around 15% of people in Bolton currently smoking. The availability of cheap illegal cigarettes across many communities in Bolton, particularly those in more deprived areas, makes this process more difficult.

Source: Bolton News, 5 September 2022
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** Iceland to partner with Fresh Del Monte to promote NHS Healthy Start scheme

Iceland will become the first supermarket to collaborate with a brand to support the NHS Healthy Start scheme.

The partnership between Iceland and Del Monte comes at as recent data from The Food Foundation shows a sharp increase in the proportion of households with children experiencing food insecurity in the past month – which is now at 17.2%, up from 12.1% in January 2022. This represents 2.6 million children aged under 18 who live in households that do not have access to a healthy and affordable diet, putting them at risk of suffering from diet-related diseases.

Minister for Public Health at the Department of Health and Social Care, Maggie Throup, applauding the partnership said: “A healthy diet is crucial to the development of babies and children and I want to ensure pregnant mothers and families with young children are able to access nutritious food.”

The NHS Healthy Start scheme helps those on a low income who are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, to buy milk, fruit and vegetables, pulses and baby formula. They can also get free Healthy Start vitamins. These can be bought using a prepaid card, which is regularly topped up by the government so that pregnant mothers and mothers with children between the ages of one and four-years-old receive £4.25 per week, while mothers with children under the age of one receive £8.50 per week.

Source: Retail Times, 4 September 2022

See also: The Food Foundation - Millions of adults missing meals as cost of living crisis bites ([link removed])
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** ‘Cost of living’ handouts to Britain's richest bosses

Some of Britain's richest corporate bosses are being lavished with extraordinary perks, including allowances for their partners, cash for alcohol, designer clothes, commuting costs and second homes, according to The Mail on Sunday.

Zoran Bogdanovic, the chief executive of FTSE100 soft drinks bottling giant Coca-Cola HBC, received benefits of £736,000 last year, including an allowance for his partner, a £90,000 housing subsidy and a 'cost of living' payment of nearly £250,000. The businessman also received £252,000 to cover his taxes. These handouts came on top of a basic salary of £691,000.

Other bosses enjoyed subsidised housing, free travel and even private school tuition fees.

Drinks giant Diageo's chief executive, Ivan Menezes, receives a package of allowances totalling £133,000. This includes £86,000 for financial advice and preparing his tax return, plus a payment that allows him to entertain with his firm's beverages, which include Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Tanqueray.

British American Tobacco's Jack Bowles was awarded £69,000 for the maintenance of the security measures at his home.

Luke Hildyard, of think tank High Pay Centre, commented: “Normal people have to pay for their own relocation or transport costs when they start a new job.”

Source: Mail on Sunday, 4 September 2022
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** International
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** Ireland study: Teenagers more likely to vape if their parents smoke

Teenagers whose parents are smokers are 55% more likely to try e-cigarettes, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Researchers from the Tobacco Free Research Institute Ireland revealed that the number of 16 and 17-year-olds who had tried e-cigarettes had increased from 23% in 2014 to 39% in 2019. This compares with their finding from the same survey that 32% had tried smoking. They examined data on 6,216 17-18-year-olds, including information on whether their parents smoked while they were growing up.

Teenagers said the main reasons they tried e-cigarettes were curiosity (66%) and also because their friends were also vaping (29%), with only 3% citing they vape to stop smoking. The proportion who said they had never used tobacco when they first tried e-cigarettes increased from 32% in 2015 to 68% in 2019.

Teen e-cigarette users from the survey were 51% more likely to have tried smoking, with lead researcher Dr Joan Hanafin adding: “We can see that the number of teenagers using e-cigarettes is changing fast, so we need to keep monitoring the situation in Ireland and around the world.”

Earlier this year, a separate report from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) showed that the proportion of 11-17 year olds currently vaping in Great Britain had increased from 4.1% in 2020 to 7% in 2022, with many being exposed to e-cigarette marketing on social media sites such as TikTok.
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Source: Scien Mag, 4 September 2022

See also:
* Sky News - Teens now more likely to start vaping instead of smoking ([link removed])
* ASH - Use of e-cigarettes (vapes) among young people in Great Britain, 2022 ([link removed])
* UCL study - E-cigarettes not a substantial gateway to smoking for young people ([link removed].)

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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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