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Real-terms cut will have a significant impact on services’, sector warns
Senior local government figures have warned flexibility over powers to set council tax will not be enough to tackle rising inflationary and demand pressures, following the chancellor's autumn statement this morning.
Jeremy Hunt announced a raft of measures in parliament this morning, including giving councils more flexibility over setting council tax rates as part of additional £2.8bn for adults’ social care.
James Jamieson (Con), the chair of the Local Government Association said: “It is good that the chancellor has used the autumn statement to act on the LGA’s call to save local services from spiraling inflation, demand and cost pressures.”
But he warned that councils “recognise it will be residents and businesses that will be asked to pay more”.
Ben Bradley (Con) the leader of Nottinghamshire CC warned that depending on council tax rises every year is “not sustainable”. However, he welcomed the fact that councils would have more flexibility over setting council tax, as it would allow them to keep non-statutory, vital services going. “Local accountability and flexibility is important,” he said.
Sharon Taylor (Lab), the vice chair and finance spokesperson for the District Councils’ Network warned of "difficult decisions" ahead. She said: “District councils face some very difficult decisions as we are buffeted by the perfect storm of rising costs, increasing demand for services but reduced budgets.”
“We urge ministers to work with us to minimise the disruption to vital services and give us some clarity so we can plan ahead to safeguard as many services and support as many residents as possible,” Baroness Taylor added.
Source: Local Government Chronicle, 17 November 2022
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NHS England gets half of funding it warned could be needed
The chancellor has announced the NHS will receive an additional £3.3bn in each of the next two years, raising the overall budget by 2 per cent in real terms.
This falls well short of the £7bn that NHS England estimated may be needed last month, although that estimate was based on previous estimates around inflation and pay, and the sector had feared it was on course for real terms cuts.
NHS England’s chief executive Amanda Pritchard has welcomed the announcement, saying: “While I am under no illusions that NHS staff face very testing times ahead, particularly over winter, this settlement should provide sufficient funding for the NHS to fulfil its key priorities.”
But Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, said: “The NHS warned it needed more money to cope with the impact of inflation on its costs. Today’s autumn statement has provided much-needed extra cash from April over the next two years, but this is only around half of what the NHS had warned last month would likely be needed.”
At its board meeting in October, NHS England warned it faced a budget shortfall of around £7bn in 2023-24, depending on inflation pressures and the levels of pay increases awarded.
Documents published by the Treasury say NHS England will set out “full recovery plans” for emergency and primary care services in the new year, including performance milestones.
Source: Health Service Journal, 17 November 2022
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Opinion: Most smokers don't know that vaping is less harmful for their health
David Firth, editor at the Mirror, writes that vaping does not always receive favourable coverage but highlights research showing that using vaping products rather than smoking substantially reduces exposure to toxic chemicals that promote cancer, lung disease and heart problems.
Firth draws upon a study from King’s College London which provides a comprehensive review of the risks of vaping and concludes that vaping poses a considerably smaller risk than smoking, although is not risk free and should be used as a substitute to smoking rather than by those who have never smoked.
One of the report’s authors, Dr Debbie Robson, says that the level of exposure to toxicants are significantly reduced in those who vape when compared to those who smoke. She goes on to say that the government should prioritise the up take of vaping amongst smokers if it wishes to achieve smoke-free objectives by 2030.
The lead author of the study, Professor Ann McNeill says that smoking is “uniquely deadly” and will result in the death of half of regular smokers. She goes on to say that two-thirds of adults who smoke are, incorrectly, under the impression vaping is more harmful. She reinforces that vaping is not without risk and she discourages those who have never smoked or vaped from taking up vaping.
Source: The Mirror, 17 November 2022
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New Zealand smoking rates fall to lowest on record, but vaping on the rise
Overall smoking rate falls to 8% as country pursues goal of becoming smoke-free by 2025, but many may be switching to vaping instead. The number of people smoking in New Zealand has fallen to a historic low, as the country pushes forward with ambitious plans to wipe out smoking in a generation.
Data released on Thursday showed the number of people smoking daily had fallen to 8%, the lowest rates since records began, and down from 9.4% last year.
Associate minister of health Dr Ayesha Verrall attributed the drop to government interventions, saying the “government’s plan to reduce smoking is working”. “The number of people smoking fell by 56,000 over the past year, despite the pressures and stress of the pandemic, and smoking rates are now half of what they were 10 years ago,” she said. The minister was “really pleased” to see the downward trend “given other countries saw an uptick in their smoking rates during lockdowns”.
The drop of New Zealand’s overall smoking rate to 8% would place it among some of the world’s lowest prevalences. The most recent OECD average was 16.5%, Australia’s rate is 10.7%, and the UK’s is 13.8%. It’s likely, however, that a substantial portion of New Zealanders quitting smoking may be switching to vaping. According to the latest data, the rise in daily vape users was larger than the drop in daily smokers: 8.3% of adults are now vaping daily, up from 6.2% in the past year.
In August, New Zealand’s government introduced world-first legislation to stop the next generation from ever being able to legally buy cigarettes. The laws, which have passed their first reading, install a steadily rising purchasing age so that teenagers will never be able to legally buy cigarettes, creating a “smoke-free generation”.
As well as the shifting the smoking age, New Zealand’s laws reduce the nicotine in cigarettes, and force them to be sold only through specialty tobacco stores, rather than corner stores and supermarkets. The laws, which the government hopes to have in place next year, form part of a larger drive to make New Zealand smoke-free by 2025. The country has increased funding for health services and campaigns.
“Smoking rates are plummeting,” Verrall said. “Our goal of being smoke-free by 2025 is within reach.”
Source: The Guardian, 17 November 2022
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The Association of Directors of Public Health North East (ADPHNE) statement on nicotine vaping
They state that tobacco remains the single biggest cause of preventable death and is a key driver in health inequalities. The evidence is clear that, for smokers, vaping is a far less risky option and, in the short and medium term, vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking. We must ensure that vaping is an affordable and accessible alternative for smokers who want to reduce their risk of dying from a smoking-related disease.
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10th anniversay of the E-cigarette summit
The 10th anniversary of the E-Cigarette Summit UK, takes place in 3 weeks’ time, on Friday 9th December. The Summit is hybrid so you can join us in person at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), or on-line via our interactive app and live stream. With over 28 high level briefings and interactive panels the Summit brings together a wide range of scientific, policy, practice and advocacy experience into one day.
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‘Scandinavian quality and Singaporean efficiency’- what the autumn statement means for cancer research
Cancer Research UK has responded to the autumn statement and what it means for cancer research. They noted a lack of measures announced in tackling major causes of ill health such as tobacco, alcohol and obesity. In particular, the lack of extra funds for key services will threaten the UK’s ability to achieve smokefree by 2030 unless remedied in the upcoming Tobacco control plan.
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Local Government Association (LGA) responds to the autumn statement
James Jamieson, chairman of the LGA has praised the Chancellor for helping protect local services from spiralling inflation but has said that increasing council tax is not a sustainable or long-term solution to meeting long term pressures. He calls for greater cooperation between councils and central government to develop a long term strategy to maintain delivery of key services.
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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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