Tobacco Control Activities, 2007–2008 to 2010–2011
| 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Overall Budget Available | 13,545,000 | 19,996,230 | 20,358,046 | 20,295,596 |
| 1. Smoking Cessation-Related Activity | 9,160,500 | 12,711,230 | 13,128,096 | 13,013,096 |
| 2. Voluntary Sector Activity | 1,005,112 | 983,950 | 983,950 | 971,500 |
| 3. Smoke-Free Laws | 2,596,000 | 2,550,000 | 2,550,000 | 2,500,000 |
| 4. Smoking Prevention | 148,125 | 3,165,000 | 3,098,000 | 3,065,000 |
| 5. Tobacco Communications | 550,000 | 521,000 | 550,000 | 300,000 |
| 6. Surveys | 70,000 | 62,000 | 33,000 | 18,000 |
| 7. Miscellaneous/Contingency | 15,263 | 3,050 | 15,000 | 3,000 |
| 8. Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 - Implementation | 425,000 |
Notes:
1. Smoking cessation figures do not include the £2 million per annum contained within NHS boards’ unified budgets.
2. The above figures do include the budget for enforcing the smoke-free legislation and is provided by means of a block grant.
ASH Scotland ('Voluntary sector activity') earnings for the coming year don't seem to have reduced much.
The biggest section of the budget is smoking cessation related-activity. If local authority money is included, this gives over £15 million to smoking cessation this year. The Scottish Daily Mail today declared on page 32 (no url), 'Scots smokers failing to heed £20m health drive', and tells us that the Scottish Government has failed to achieve a 22 per cent smoking rate by the end of this year. Dr Richard Simpson MSP appears to experience a moment of clarity in this article when he says: 'I also have concerns about the amount paid to pharmacies. We need to be sure this is not the same people who keep coming back when the first lot of patches has not worked.' Appearing not to hear him, Public Health Minister Shona Robison says, 'It's good news that we've seen a significant increase in the number of people using NHS services to quit the habit': didn't anyone tell her what the headline of the story was? Since the number of smokers has remained constant, Dr Simpson could be right that they have created a revolving door syndrome
Smoking prevention is a big issue in budgetary terms. A survey of young people carried out by Young Scot (remember this picture?) was completed in 2007. Interestingly, it doesn't refer to brightly coloured packaging or the visibility of tobacco in shops as contributing factors to young people smoking. The three most popular options chosen by participants were peer pressure, 'looking good' and curiosity. The range of options offered to young people in the survey did not include either option (the survey questions are listed at the back of the document). Clearly nobody read this report before drafting the law that would ban tobacco displays.
All in all, disappointing that most of this money isn't used elsewhere in the Scottish health service or Scottish society generally.
Smoking prevention is a big issue in budgetary terms. A survey of young people carried out by Young Scot (remember this picture?) was completed in 2007. Interestingly, it doesn't refer to brightly coloured packaging or the visibility of tobacco in shops as contributing factors to young people smoking. The three most popular options chosen by participants were peer pressure, 'looking good' and curiosity. The range of options offered to young people in the survey did not include either option (the survey questions are listed at the back of the document). Clearly nobody read this report before drafting the law that would ban tobacco displays.
All in all, disappointing that most of this money isn't used elsewhere in the Scottish health service or Scottish society generally.
1 comment:
I've mentioned this a few times -- Why are they so excited about the display ban when it is they who advertise smoking far more than the tobacco companies can.
We have incessant mentions of smoking and cigarettes in their anti-smoking adverts and they promoted the camaraderie of smoking to the whole world when they threw smokers out of pubs into full view of our impressionable young.
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