The LGA believes this is a progressive piece of legislation that would undoubtedly impact on smoking prevalence and ultimately reduce rates of smoking-related disease. We look forward to working with the Government and others to enforce this ban as well as ensure plans for a smokefree generation are a success.
Key messages
- The UK is taking a significant step forward by considering raising the legal age of sale for tobacco products and bringing in rules regulating the marketing, flavours and descriptions of vapes. The LGA believes this is a progressive piece of legislation that would undoubtedly impact on smoking prevalence and ultimately reduce rates of smoking-related disease. We look forward to working with the Government and others to enforce this ban as well as ensure plans for a smokefree generation are a success.
- We are fully supportive of the Government’s smokefree generation ambitions, which will improve the life chances of people across the country. Local government has consistently led the way in tackling the harms caused by smoking, whether that is calling for a ban on smoking in public places or funding smoking cessation services.
- We welcome the Government’s measures to restrict the availability and marketing of vapes to children. Their colours, flavours and advertising are appealing to children and are a risk to the health of young people.
- There should be sufficient lead-in time and guidance provided ahead of the legislation coming into force so that councils, retailers and others understand their new obligations and can prepare accordingly.
Smokefree generation
In England, local government has had responsibility for stop smoking services and local tobacco control since 2013. Councillors and officers recognise the harm that smoking inflicts on their communities and the importance of continuing to drive down smoking prevalence. Local councils have sustained their support for smokers to quit and many have developed innovative approaches to reduce the harm of tobacco on their local communities. Examples include:
Local councils have exploited their strengths to reduce local smoking rates. Their reach into communities has helped in tackling the stark inequalities that characterise the population of smokers, such as the stubbornly high smoking prevalence in low income and disadvantaged communities. Their relationships across communities have helped to build partnerships with the capacity to tackle the harms of tobacco on multiple fronts: supporting smokers to quit, communicating with local people to deter new smokers and encourage smokers to quit, reducing the illicit trade, creating smoke-free public spaces and promoting harm reduction approaches.
Every day around 350 young adults start smoking and around 160 people are diagnosed with cancer caused by smoking. Smoking causes at least 16 different types of cancer. This Bill will phase out sale of tobacco by raising the age of sale for all tobacco products by one year, every year, from 2027 onwards.
The LGA supports the Government’s progressive move to raise the legal age of sale for tobacco products. This is a progressive policy that will have a positive impact on smoking prevalence and ultimately reduce rates of smoking-related disease. This proposal is supported by 71 per cent of the public, with 17 per cent opposed. This includes majority support from voters of the main political parties.
Raising the legal age for tobacco purchase has been shown to reduce the likelihood of young people starting to smoke. The UK saw a fall in youth smoking when age of sale was raised from 16 to 18 in 2005, and when it was increased to 21 in the USA more recently.
Acknowledging nicotine's highly addictive nature, restricting tobacco access for those born after January 1, 2009, aims to prevent lifelong addiction, particularly among young individuals, breaking the cycle of addiction in adulthood.
Government modelling estimates that raising the age of sale will avoid up to 472,950 cases of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and other lung diseases by 2100, saving tens of thousands of lives and the health and care system billions of pounds.
Enforcement
The success of the new legislation will be dependent upon the ability to enforce it, and it is therefore crucial that adequate powers, funding and resources are dedicated towards this. The LGA supports strict enforcement measures and tough penalties for selling tobacco and e-cigarettes to those underage.
Local authority trading standards teams have seen a significant reduction to core budgets over recent years, and continue to face acute staff shortages, whilst also seeing the number of enforcement responsibilities increase through new legislation on a range of different Government priorities. Cuts have left Trading Standards departments overstretched, facing an ever-rising tide of consumer complaints and an ever-growing list of enforcement responsibilities. The number of laws Trading Standards is responsible for enforcing and advising on is almost 300. Individual departments will be carefully considering which responsibilities are of the highest priority based on local intelligence and need.
The Government should be clear on what additional funding is set to be made available to Trading Standards departments to enforce these important regulations. Greater funding is critical, particularly as we are aware of capacity and workforce issues within Trading Standards teams. When the Bill comes into effect, Trading Standards teams will be under increased pressures to enforce the new regulation. The Government must provide clarity on this as soon as reasonably possible, in order to give Trading Standards departments the best chance to build capacity and plan for the Bill’s introduction. Capacity and workforce issues should be continually monitored and reviewed to ensure the Bill is effectively enforced.
The LGA has also been calling on the Government to boost the future pipeline of qualified trading standards officers through a dedicated apprenticeship fund, investing in regional support networks, and enabling councils to recover regulatory service costs.
Councils should also be able to issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs), and further consideration should be given to being able to issue fines on a scale in accordance with the issues identified, for example number of under-age sales, age of recipient and the number of times the retailer broke the rules. The use of FPNs is quicker and cheaper to administer and will reduce pressure on the courts. FPNs are a welcomed part of the enforcement toolkit but may not be appropriate in all circumstances. This builds on a maximum £2,500 fine that local authorities can already impose on retailers through the Magistrates.
Where required, there should be the possibility of using the higher fines and stronger sentences which are available to the courts to act as a clear deterrent to retailers who flout the rules. It is also important action is taken to tackle the online supply of vaping products. It would assist councils if there was a body that could take the appropriate enforcement action. The issuing and cost of fines must be consistent across the various categories of products referenced within the Bill.
A new tobacco and vape licensing regime would enable councils to grant or refuse licences for new premises, revoke or suspend licences, and add conditions to licences to improve safety.
Vapes
While research has shown vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking, it is deeply worrying that more and more children – who have never smoked – are starting vaping. Vaping is not risk free and action is needed to curb increases in underage vaping seen in recent years. To quote the Chief Medical Officer: “If you smoke, vaping is much safer; if you don’t smoke, don’t vape; marketing vapes to children is utterly unacceptable.”
Many local areas have noted an increase in shops selling vapes to young people, and subsequently have stepped up enforcement activity to deal with the issue. The marketing of vapes to children is utterly unacceptable. The LGA has been calling for all vaping products to be subject to the same rules as cigarettes - sold in plain packaging and kept out of reach and sight of children behind shop counters.
A 2023 survey from ASH found that the proportion of 11- to 17-year-olds in the UK who stated they were current users more than doubled from 3.3 per cent in 2021 to 7.6 per cent in 2023, while those trying vaping once or twice increased by 50 per cent compared to 2022.
Research from King's College London found that 40 per cent of teenagers expressed a preference for certain vaping products while only 32 per cent had a preference when they had generic packaging. This suggests that removing or reducing the imagery and branding from vaping products may help discourage teen use, and we believe this is something the Government should carefully consider.
The LGA also believes that sanctions need to be reviewed and more robust measures should be introduced to tackle the significant number of retailers who persistently sell vapes to under-age children. Councils should be able to issue FPNs as prosecutions can be resource intensive, and consideration should be given to being able to issue fines on a scale in accordance with the issues identified, for example number of under-age sales, age of recipient and the number of times the retailer broke the rules. Where required, there should be the possibility of using the higher fines and stronger sentences which are available to the courts to act as a clear deterrent to retailers who flout the rules. It is also important action is taken to tackle the online supply of vaping products.
Extending smokefree places will reduce second-hand smoke exposure, but requires a wide and open consultation, driven by the evidence. Suggestions of extending smokefree places and introducing vape free places always generates a huge amount of discussion and interest. These debates are opportunities to raise awareness of the harms of smoking and encourage individuals to quit. As smoking rates continue to decline it is right to consider how we want to use public spaces to protect non-smokers, particularly children and people with health conditions, and support more people to quit smoking.
Funding
The previous Government made 5-year funding commitments for stop smoking services, enforcement and mass media campaigns. This was in addition to funding for a national vaping ‘swap to stop’ scheme and financial incentives for pregnant smokers, both of which come to an end in March 2025 (see the table below).
Funding Commitment |
Value |
New funding for local authorities stop smoking support |
£70 million from 24/25 committed for 5 years |
Swap to stop scheme |
£45 million over two years (ending March 2025) |
New enforcement funding |
£30 million from 24/25 for 5 years |
National mass marketing campaigns |
£15 million from 24/25 for 5 years |
National financial incentive scheme for pregnant women |
£10 million over two years (ending
March 2025)
|
The Government has yet to state whether funding for these vital initiatives will be maintained. In NHS settings, funding for tobacco dependency treatment services in acute, maternity and mental health services has been repeatedly scaled back due to funding pressures, leading to delays in implementation and reducing the impact of these services, particularly in mental health which has seen the biggest cuts.
Contact:
Arian Nemati, Public Affairs and Campaigns Adviser
Email: [email protected]