Agenda item

To update the Panel on the Council’s response to the Governments’ smoke free generation by 2030 initiative and additional smoking grant allocated to Haringey council.

Will Maimaris, Director for Public Health, introduced this item noting that smoking remained the biggest contributor to the life expectancy gap between the richest and poorest parts of the country. He also noted that the new Government appeared to be continuing the previous Government’s proposals to tighten the law on smoking and vaping.

BezuayehuGubay, Public Health Strategist and Commissioner, then presented details of Haringey’s new plan to create a smokefree generation by 2030:

• Smoking is the single most entirely preventable cause of ill health,

disability and death in the UK, leading to around 80,000 deaths a year and

one in four of all cancer deaths.

• In Haringey, 17% of the GP registered population were smokers as of November 2023, which equated to 59,620 people.
• Various groups in Haringey had higher rates of smoking including people in routine and manual occupations (33% prevalence), people with long-term mental health conditions (28%), people from certain ethnic communities including the Turkish (28%), Polish (31%) and Romanian (31%) speaking communities and people living in the most deprived areas (20%). In addition, 5.4% of pregnant women were identified to be smokers at the time of delivery.
• Haringey had the second highest mortality ratein NCL for smoking attributable mortality in persons aged 35 years or more and had higher hospital admission rates than London as a whole.
• The economic impact of smoking on Haringey was estimated to be around £100m. The cost on an individual’s finances was also significant with someone smoking 20 cigarettes per day spending an average of £4,182 per year. An average smoker spends £1,945 per year.
• There were opportunities created through the Government’s Smoke Free Generation by 2030 initiative including increasing the age of sale, strengthening enforcement on illicit tobacco and vaping sales as well as initiatives to support and incentivise people to stop smoking. Additional funding for anti-smoking in Haringey this year was £332,932.
• A process of assessment and self-evaluation was being carried out while strategic actions included writing a tobacco control strategy, embedding the tobacco control agenda in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the signing of a Tobacco Control Declaration by elected members.
• Other policy actions included school initiatives, promoting smoke-free environments, public education and enforcement actions. The overall goal was to achieve 5% of smoking prevalence by 2030 which was the national target.
• The equality focus included a targeted approach on the higher-risk groups referred to previously, using the swap to stop scheme to encourage smokers to switch to vaping, efforts to reach those most in need through health ambassadors from key community groups, a multilingual website and improved referral pathways. There was also increased workforce capacity to support these initiatives including more smoking advisers and speciality training on mental health.
• The Council had committed to supporting the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and there were options for elected members to provide support, including by signing up to the London Smoke Free Councillor Network.

Will Maimaris and Bezuayehu Gubay then responded to questions from the Panel:

• Cllr Connor requested further details on how high-risk groups would be targeted. Will Maimaris said that regulation was likely to have the most success but there was also additional resources going into smoking cessation services along with the community ambassador approach. BezuayehuGubay added that the direct engagement with local community organisations was combined with identifying current smokers through health records to encourage them to engage with interventions.
• Asked by Cllr Connor how children in schools would be prevented from vaping, Will Maimaris acknowledged that there was not yet a clear formulated plan around Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education because this was still an emerging picture. Regulation may be required as the number of young people vaping was rising. Cllr Connor suggested that it would be useful to be updated on how work in schools on vaping progresses at a future date. (ACTION)
• Cllr Peacock expressed concern that some Council staff could be seen smoking outside some Council buildings which should be discouraged. Will Maimaris said that there had been some firm messaging to Council staff about smoking outside the premises. Some investment for workplace NHS health checks had also recently been secured which included smoking advice for staff. BezuayehuGubay added that staff were also supported by linking to initiatives such as ‘Stoptober’.
• Cllr Peacock highlighted the high prevalence of smoking in the Turkish community and also the marketing of vaping to children and young people. Will Maimaris said that the proliferation of colourful vapes that appeal to young people was recognised as a national issue. While the Council’s trading standards team could enforce existing regulations, a shift in national levers would be required for further action.
• Cllr O’Donovan highlighted the potential mixed messaging of discouraging youth vaping but also encouraging smokers to switch to vaping. Will Maimaris responded that, although the harm from vaping wasn’t fully understood, it was clearly much less harmful than smoking which is why there were efforts to switch smokers over to vaping. He acknowledged that there was a challenge of reconciling this with the message around potential harm for children and this is why further regulation and support was required nationally.
• Cllr O’Donovan highlighted research which indicated that managing stress/anxiety was a factor in young people vaping and also that young people wanted more reliable educational information about whether vaping was harmful. Cllr Connor requested that Cllr O’Donovan circulate any relevant research on this issue to the Panel. (ACTION) Will Maimaris observed that there were some similarities between the trend on vaping and young people and the use of smoking and alcohol in previous generations of young people. However, the trend around anxiety and stress was also reflected by increasing rates of self-harm in young people. He added that the team were doing some local research on vaping with schools and that there was a forthcoming seminar on this that he could report back on at a later date. Cllr Connor agreed that it would be useful for the Panel to be updated on this along with any future plans to engage with pupils via PSHE education and linking up with mental health teams if this was felt to be a factor. (ACTION)
• Asked by Cllr Opoku whether people who chew tobacco were included in the strategy, BezuayehuGubay said that they would still be supported if presenting to services but that there wasn’t a specific workstream on this. Cllr Connor recommended that the wording of the strategy be amended to include ‘tobacco products’ as a way of including practices such as this. (ACTION) Will Maimaris agreed that there could be some consideration given to understanding the cultural practices around chewing tobacco.
• Cllr Iyngkaran referred to the graph on smoking prevalence in Haringey and queried the sharp drop in 2021 which was followed by a subsequent rise. Will Maimaris said that short term trends in the data should be treated with some caution as they tended to fluctuate and were based on a questionnaire that only a certain number of people were asked to complete. He also noted that there was some national evidence around increasing smoking prevalence in young people which hadn’t been seen for some time.