Tobacco control

Tobacco Control

Introduction

The health harms of tobacco are proven - smoking tobacco is a risk. If you need any reminder here is a quick overview of the facts.

However, we do not want to dwell on statistics in these pages.

What we do want to do is to help the two thirds of smokers who want to quit to access the help and support they need in order to do so.

No Smoking Day is in March every year and is a time when many smokers decide to stop smoking. The festive season, birthdays and anniversaries are also times when people think of quitting but the NHS Stop Smoking Service is there whenever support is needed throughout the year.

We also want to help to prevent young people from becoming the smokers of tomorrow and to protect everyone from the effects of second hand smoke.

We can only do this if we work together with you. So if you have any comments about anything you see on this page please let us know

The Government's new tobacco control strategy 'A Smokefree Future' shows what is planned nationally between 2010 and 2020

The role of Pendle Council in tobacco control

Pendle Council is a partner in the East Lancashire Tobacco Control Strategy Alliance.

We are committed 'to reducing the health harms of tobacco use and to helping to reduce overall smoking rates'. We also want to work with communities to help to raise awareness of tobacco harms including those caused by the use of 'niche' tobacco products.

Pendle Council has produced an action plan to show how we intend to do this.

Smoking prevalence in Pendle - our challenge

With overall smoking rates in Pendle at around 23.2% our rate is at or around the national average.

However there is concern about the numbers of young people taking up the habit as there appears to be a higher rate of young people who are smokers in Lancashire than elsewhere in the country. In England we know that 1 in 7 of all 15 year olds are regular smokers and that girls are more likely to smoke than boys.

We also know many people in manual jobs are regular smokers and that there is a higher rate of smoking amongst people who are financially less well off. We are working Stop Smoking Service to make sure that services are available at times and places which are easily accessible.

We are also concerned about the rate of smoking amongst pregnant women which in Pendle is higher than the national average. A high proportion of women who smoke when they first become pregnant are still smoking at the time of delivery. We want to work with mums to reduce the rates of smoking before, during and after their pregnancies.

Smoking prevalence in Pendle - our response

Whilst our smoking rates are not significantly different than the national average rate we recognise that we need to reduce our smoking rate in order to improve health and save lives.

Tobacco control is one of the key projects of the NHS East Lancs SMYL programme. Working in partnership we are aiming to save a million years of life.

On average 156 people die from smoking related illness every year in Pendle. We suffer significantly more smoking related deaths than the national average.

On its own Pendle Council can do little to change this situation but working with our partners we aim to:-

Raise awareness of smoking related harm. We can offer carbon monoxide monitoring and lung age testing to groups of people such as work groups and social groups.
Improve access to good quality local stop smoking services. Smokers are 4x more likely to succeed in their quit attempt with professional support and advice from the NHS Stop Smoking Service. This service has recently been redesigned to be more responsive to local need - visit their website or telephone 01254 380424 to find out how they can help you to quit smoking in YOUR WAY
Reduce access to tobacco by young people
We are working with trading standards colleagues on this. It is an offence to sell tobacco to anyone under 18 - if you have concerns that offences are occurring in your neighbourhood you can report this Trading standards officers carry out regular test purchasing in shops in Pendle and they will act upon any information given to them.
In September 2009 Pendle Council agreed to support a resolution calling on our MP to support the Health Bill and its proposed amendments. This Bill, which has now had support from the House of Lords will become law in 2011 and aims to restrict access to tobacco by young people.The law will restrict retailer display of tobacco products and includes an outright ban on tobacco vending machines. If you are a young person or if you work with young people you will be interested in the Look Out Tobacco website.
Help pregnant women to understand the harm that tobacco may cause to themselves and their babies. Offer extra help to pregnant women to stop smoking by providing carbon monoxide testing and referrals into the stop smoking service through Children's Centres.
Reduce exposure to second hand smoke by ensuring that all workplaces and public places are smoke free and ensuring that work vehicles and public transport are smoke free.

The smoking ban applies to your van signage

In 2008 Pendle Council ran a high profile campaign to remind people of this requirement.In March 2010 we will be doing a roadside survey so that we can see how many people are still smoking in work vehicles, taxis etc.

If you see anyone smoking in a building open to the public, work vehicle or on public transport you can report it to the Council and we will investigate