Agenda item

To consider a further update report from the Head of Democratic Services on youth vaping setting out recent policy developments at Government level that impact on the work of the Board in this area. Included as an appendix to this item is a proposed consultation submission to the ‘Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation Government’ for board comment and approval as appropriate.

The Board considered an update report from the Head of Democratic Services on youth vaping setting out recent policy developments at Government level that have impacted on the work of the Board in this area. In addition, included as an appendix to this item was a proposed consultation submission to the ‘Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation’ for board comment and approval. The consultation response was based on previous discussion at the Board when considering this item in July and October 2023.

The Principal Scrutiny Advisor noted that questions 1 to 4 of the Government consultation focussed on smoking which does not come under the remit of the Children and Families Board and had not featured in previous consideration of this work item, as a result those question were not answered in the draft submission and it was agreed that those would not be completed due to restrictions in time to formulate a response and because of the issue regarding remit, the Board’s work on this was focussed on youth vaping.

The following were in attendance for this item:

Kathryn Ingold – Chief Officer Public Health

Helen Goddard – Advanced Health Improvement Specialist

Cllr Andrew Scopes – Chair Adults Health and Active Lifestyles Scrutiny Board

Cllr Sandy Lay – Otley and Yeadon Ward

Following questions and comments from members the following discussion took place:

·  Noting the planned action by the Government through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that featured in the King’s Speech, the Chair suggested that by submitting a response to the consultation the Board could conclude their work on youth vaping for the moment and then await further developments through the planned Government legislation before considering any further action through an update item to the Board at its first meeting in the new municipal year in June 2024. The submission to the consultation would act as the Board’s recommendations or views on this matter and would contribute to the Government’s final legislative proposals. Whilst noting potential issues with timing on the legislation this course of action was agreed to.

·  In addition to national activity on youth vaping, the Council’s Public Health Service has been active in taking local action to prevent children and young people from vaping. This has included ongoing work with West Yorkshire Trading Standards (WYTS), posters, leaflets, animations and lesson plans provided to schools to raise awareness of the dangers of vaping and wide ranging communications and PR through social media and press coverage on the  front page of the Yorkshire Evening Post. In terms of current compliance levels based on the work being done in partnership with WYTS there is clearly an issue with illegal vape sales and compliance. In two days of activity visiting retailers in Leeds the following was reported; Day One 18 retailers visited in total, 13 in the city centre where just 3 were complaint and 5 in Morley where 3 were compliant; Day Two 18 retailers visited in the LS10/LS11 area where just 4 retailers were compliant. This was largely linked to over sized vapes and also there was significant evidence of adults buying vape products for children and young people. This initial work has generated important intelligence that will inform phase 2 of this work in the New Year.

·  Discussion moved on to specific details in the draft consultation submission. The Board thought that Question 7 in the draft consultation response should restrict fruit flavours as well as menthol and tobacco flavoured products. A key issue in relation to flavours is around adults accessing fruit flavours as they seek to quit smoking and the risk that if these were removed as a flavour option adults may return to smoking. However, the Board believed that children and young people should be discouraged at all costs from vaping and given the popularity of fruit flavours and the associated advertising, Option B was the better option which would see the Board support limiting flavours to tobacco, mint and menthol only.

·  The Board also wanted some additional comment adding on question 11 in the consultation which focussed on specialist vape shops and where they are located. Some in Leeds are located too close to schools and with bright coloured advertising these can be hard to miss and appear to be targeting young people.

·  Noting the comments made on action being taken locally board members wanted more focussed work on tackling youth vaping to continue and for communication with partners that the Council is concerned about the prevalence of youth vaping and wanted action to continue to be taken in this interim period before any new legislation is passed.

·  On question 13 the Board thought additional comments on the vape devices themselves could also potentially dissuade young people from using them. In addition, on the same question, Board members believed that images on packaging should be aimed at children to prevent usage, like there are with cigarettes aimed at adults and the health impacts that cigarettes have.

·  The Board also sought additional comment on Question 27 around looking at stronger punitive measures or fines for parents whose children are caught using vapes to make clear that parents have a role in prevention and that they have parental responsibility for this activity.

·  The Board were clear that disposable or single use vapes should be restricted and no longer be legal due to both their popularity with young people and the environmental impact they are having.

·  In relation to disposable vapes currently members sought clarification on whether these were available as part of smoking cessation programmes. The standard approach is to provide re-usable devices to those who are seeking to quit smoking but in some cases due to dexterity issues around using rechargeable devices, disposables are made available.

·  In relation to the overall approach being taken by Government some members thought that the prescription only approach being taken by other countries could be considered by Government, although at the moment it does not feature in the proposals. Whilst this is a viable approach the Board heard that there are concerns about growth in the illicit vape market which is already growing and could grow further if such an approach were taken.

Resolved

Board Members:

a)  Noted the smokefree generation policy announcement and the analysis of the Call for Evidence on youth vaping and the impact they have had on the work of the Board.

b)  Agreed, subject to the amendments noted above, to submit a Board response to the smoke free generation consultation by the closure date on 6 December 2023. This response would not provide a submission on the questions related to smoking.

c)  Agreed to recommend to the successor board that youth vaping should form an update item at the June 2024 meeting of the Board.