Agenda item

To consider a report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development on the draft Leeds Tobacco Action Plan 2012 – 2015

A copy of the draft Leeds Tobacco Action Plan 2012 – 2015 will be sent out separately

(report attached)

The Board considered a report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development providing background information on the development of the draft Leeds Tobacco Action Plan and were presented with a copy of the current draft plan for consideration. 

The report outlined that the action plan aimed to implement the national tobacco action plan (Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England) at a local level in Leeds and therefore reflected the following key themes:

·  Stopping the promotion of tobacco

·  Making tobacco less affordable

·  Effective regulation of tobacco products

·  Helping tobacco users to quit

·  Reducing exposure to second-hand smoke

·  Effective communications for tobacco control

The report also outlined that a Leeds Tobacco Control Management group responsible for achieving the commitment and agreement of Leeds City Council (LCC) directorates and partner organisations for the proposed action plan and summarised the associated timescales as follows:

·  Production of 1^st Draft of Strategic Action Plan: January  2012

·  Consultation on 1^st Draft of Strategic Action Plan: February/March 2012

·  Production of final Strategic Action Plan: April 2012

·  Strategy and Action Plan approved by Health and Wellbeing Board: April 2012

·  Action Plan published and launched: May 2012

The Board welcomed the following representatives who attended for this item:

·  Dr Ian Cameron (Joint Director of Public Health) – Leeds City Council / NHS Airedale, Bradford and Leeds

·  Heather Thomson (Head of Health Improvement) – NHS Airedale, Bradford and Leeds

·  David Lodge (Divisional Manager (Fair Trading)) – West Yorkshire Joint Services

Reference was made to the previous action plan that had seen smoking levels in Leeds reduced from 30% to 23%.  However, it was also reported that difficulties in maintaining the level at 23% were being experienced.  It was outlined that the draft action plan sought to target activities in the following areas:

·  Establishing an infrastructure to  achieve comprehensive  tobacco control;

·  Preventing the uptake of smoking;

·  Tobacco cessation; and,

·  Protecting the population from the environmental impacts of  tobacco.

It was outlined that the current draft action plan aimed to reduce smoking levels to 22% by 2015.  It was reported that the 1% reduction represented 6,000 smokers and was seen as a significant challenge.  It was outlined that actions would be targeted at areas of the City with higher levels of smoking. 

Arrangements for some of the enforcement work undertaken by West Yorkshire Joint Services (Trading Standards) around tobacco sales were discussed.  It was reported that enforcement work had traditionally been targeted using local intelligence arising from public reports and complaints – however performance had plateaued. 

Details of a project in the Armley and Middleton areas of the City were also reported.  The project had identified under-age tobacco sales of around 40% compared to the city average of 18%.  It was recognised that this represented a significant issue that had not been identified through traditional means (i.e. public reporting).  It was hoped that the project could be extended to other areas of the City.

A wide ranging discussion followed, with members of the Board examining a number of areas / issues, including the:

·  Need for an anti-smoking Council champion / advocate;

·  Cost and availability of nicotine patches;

·  Importance of anti-smoking education and communication, and tailoring messages to suit different audiences and communities;

·  Importance of gathering accurate and reliable data;

·  Impact/prevalence of illicit tobacco sales and the role of West Yorkshire Joint Services (Trading Standards) in combating this area;

·  Involvement and engagement of large organisations / institutions within the City, such as Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the City’s universities;

·  Possible correlation between smoking prevalence and the availability of health facilities across the City;

·  Availability of additional funding and/or targeting of resources;

·  Balance between national and local interventions;

·  Relationship between age (when stopping smoking) and optimum health gains;

·  Need to balance efforts on preventing smoking (particularly among children) and smoking cessation interventions;

·  Relative success of smoking cessation interventions reported as being 70% at 4 weeks and 20% at 52 weeks, compared with the national averages of 55% and 13% respectively;

·  Involvement of Trade Unions in the development of work based programme for smoking prevention/ cessation.

During the discussion of this item, Mr P Truswell declared a personal interest as an Honorary Vice President of the Trading standards institute.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the information presented be noted and the representatives in attendance be thanked for their contribution to the discussion;

(b)  That a draft report/ commentary outlining the Board’s main observations be presented to the meeting in March 2012.

Cllr. W Hyde left the meeting following conclusion of this item at 11:00am (approx.)