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** 29 September 2022
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** UK
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** Don’t make NHS and public services pay the bill for tax cuts, Kwarteng told (#1)
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** Ofsted learns pupils vape at Kingstone High School during visit (#2)
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** Scotland: Pensioner waits to find out his fate after pocketing vaping kit (#3)
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** International
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** Big Tobacco is still big at the European Parliament (#4)
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** New study adds to evidence that bans of menthol cigarettes help smokers quit (#5)
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** Northern Ireland health spending per person falls below rate in England (#6)
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** UK
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** Don’t make NHS and public services pay the bill for tax cuts, Kwarteng told
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Kwasi Kwarteng has been warned ahead of his statement on 23 November that further austerity measures on the NHS and other public services would be an “act of national vandalism”.

The chancellor is expected to use the November statement in a bid to persuade the markets that he can get the UK’s public finances back under control following last week’s mini-Budget. Treasury sources confirmed that cabinet ministers are to be asked to find “efficiency savings” in budgets, with neither health nor any other department exempt.

Independent economist Paul Johnson, director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), said that Mr Kwarteng could opt for a freeze on public spending for five years – amounting to a sharp cut when inflation is taken into account. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World at One, Mr Johnson cautioned that particularly after a decade of austerity and cuts in public services, there are serious questions as to whether there is any credibility associated with a freeze in public spending for such a long period of time.

The British Medical Association said it was “vital” that the chancellor stick with promises made only last week to maintain spending on health following his abolition of the Health and Care Levy while the head of the TUC, Frances O’Grady said that any move to limit resources to health, education and other public services in Mr Kwarteng’s fiscal plan would amount to an “act of national vandalism”.

NHS Providers director of policy and strategy Miriam Deakin told The Independent: “NHS budgets are already severely stretched. The combined impact of inflation, the unfunded staff pay award and Covid testing costs mean the NHS is facing a significant real-terms funding cut with very stretching efficiency savings factored in [...] We are already seeing services for patients being affected with the rising costs of living also impacting people’s health. And at a time when the latest data from the ONS shows that rising waiting lists are having a knock-on impact on people’s ability to return to work, the last thing patients, the NHS, and the economy, need are further hits on the NHS budget. This would be a huge setback.”

Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chair of BMA council, said: “Just last week, the chancellor promised to maintain the additional funding for NHS and social care at the same level. It is vital that he does not row back on that promise.”

Source: Independent, 28 September 2022
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** Ofsted learns pupils vape at Kingstone High School during visit
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Ofsted inspectors have visited a Herefordshire school to investigate after a tip-off over child safety concerns. Ofsted said it met with the executive headteacher David Bennett, head of school Lee Butler, chair of governors James Wright and 16 other teachers as it probed the concerns over older pupils vaping at school and going unnoticed.

E-cigarettes, and in particular disposable devices, are becoming increasingly popular amongst children, research has found. A recent survey carried out by the charity ASH found that vaping among children between 11 and 17 years old was up from 4% in 2020, around the time of the first lockdown, to 7% in 2022.

A letter, published on Ofsted's website on September 21 but dated July 5, said school documents were scrutinised, but safeguarding arrangements remained fit for purpose. The visit was not a full inspection, and the school is still rated as good. Ofsted inspector Martin Pye said that while the school was calm and orderly "most of the time", "there is room for improvement" regarding pupils' behaviour.

Source: Hereford Times, 27 September 2022

See also: ASH guidance - Developing school policies on vaping ([link removed])
ASH press release - New national vaping guidance for schools ([link removed])
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** Scotland: Pensioner waits to find out his fate after pocketing vaping kit
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William Jeffrey, of Kirkton Avenue, Knightswood, pleaded guilty to stealing a vape kit and three vape liquids from VPZ near the Clyde Shopping Centre on September 29 last year.

Fiscal depute Euan Nicholson told Dumbarton Sheriff Court on September 13 that the 66-year-old entered the shop, selected a vape kit and its liquids and concealed it in his jacket. He made no clear intentions of approaching the checkout to pay and instead immediately left the shop with £40 worth of goods.

His defence cited Jeffrey’s multiple health issues, to which Sheriff John Hamilton said: “He seems to be healthy enough to take what he wants from the shop [...] There are no addiction issues to explain this behaviour. It has been made clear that this behaviour cannot continue.”

Sheriff Hamilton deferred sentencing for the matter until next month to wait until Jeffrey has completed his previous sentence.

Source: Clydebank Post, 25 September 2022
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** International
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** Big Tobacco is still big at the European Parliament
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**
A big tobacco company seems to be inviting parliamentary assistants — who often draft and negotiate legislation on their MEP’s behalf — to an “afterwork cocktail reception” today, according to an invitation obtained by Playbook. The reception will handily take place just outside of the parliament’s building, on Place du Luxembourg.

“On behalf of Philip Morris Germany, I look forward to your participation and the exchange of ideas,” reads the mail sent by the company’s representative in Berlin to assistants in Brussels.

The EU however is a co-signatory of the WHO convention on tobacco control, which obliges institutions to protect their policy-making process “from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law.” While the Commission has strict rules that bar its members from meeting tobacco lobbyists in one-to-one meetings, officials say the European Parliament does not have, or at least does not seem to enforce, such guidelines.

Source: Politico, 29 September 2022

See also: Tobacco Tactics - Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ([link removed].)
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** New study adds to evidence that bans of menthol cigarettes help smokers quit
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A new study, published in the Tobacco Control journal, concludes that the 2020 European ban on menthol cigarettes made it more likely that menthol smokers would quit smoking, supporting previous Canadian research on the positive public health impact of banning menthol cigarettes.

Researchers surveyed a national sample of adult smokers of menthol and non-menthol cigarettes in the Netherlands before and after the EU menthol ban. Of the menthol smokers surveyed before and after the ban, 26.1% had quit smoking. This quit rate was higher than the control group of non-menthol smokers, of whom only 14.1% had quit.

The global tobacco control treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, calls upon countries to prohibit or restrict menthol and other additives that make smoking easier. To date, 35 countries have banned menthol cigarettes.

The Dutch study also found that one-third of menthol smokers reported continuing to smoke menthol cigarettes even after the ban. The tobacco industry markets a wide range of accessories to enable people to add menthol flavouring to tobacco products themselves.

Marc Willemsen, co-author of the Dutch study and professor in tobacco control research at Maastricht University, said: "These tobacco industry actions undermine the effectiveness of the menthol ban. By tightening the regulations to include these menthol add-ons, the impact of the menthol ban on quitting could be even greater."

Source: Medical Xpress, 27 September 2022
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** Northern Ireland health spending per person falls below rate in England
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Health spending per person in Northern Ireland has fallen below that in England for the first time, according to the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council. It said a squeeze on the amount of money given to Stormont by the Treasury was a factor leading to the reduction, and that extra funding that had been secured for Northern Ireland through political agreements has also come to an end.

That would put pressure on Stormont to address the "relative inefficiency" of the health system, said the council. It also said the next executive at Stormont should consider sources of additional funding.

Its report is being published alongside analysis by the Nuffield Trust, an independent health think tank, concluding the Northern Ireland health system was less efficient than that in England, with hospital costs for in-patients, out-patients and day cases were 36% (£410m) higher than in England.

The reports suggest that individual health trusts should be held to account for how budgets are spent. They said the key to success would be "appropriate governance and accountability structures and the funding of transformation and workforce planning".

Northern Ireland has been without a functioning executive since February, when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) withdrew Paul Givan from the role of first minister. The next health minister therefore faces tough decisions on how to manage inefficiencies in order to maintain existing services, but also expand or make investments in new services. Fiscal Council chair Robert Chote said that a functioning executive "allowed for better long-term planning, especially around budgeting for services and workforce".

Source: BBC News, 27 September 2022
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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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