Issue - meetings

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/059

Contact: Rebecca Cooper, Consultant in Public Health Tel: (01865) 328553

Report by Director of Public Health (CMDPHVS5).

Smoking is still the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death in the UK. Smoking kills nearly 80,000 people each year in England alone. Despite the obvious risks to their health, nearly 15% of adults in Oxfordshire are still smoking and two thirds of them would have become addicted before they were 18. Public Health in Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) is responsible for a programme of work to improve local services to stop smoking. A range of local approaches is needed, particularly the provision of stop smoking services in community settings and targeting hard to reach and higher risk groups.

Public Health has a ring fenced budget, and within this an allocation has been made for smoking cessation services as reported in the financial monthly monitoring reports to cabinet.

Contracts with current providers expire on 31 March 2015, so a decision is required in order to proceed with procurement arrangements. As the costs of commissioning these services are significant with regard to the revenue budget allocated to the Cabinet Member the commissioning of these services is considered a key decision.

Please note that the report itself does not contain exempt information and is available to the public. However, Annex 1 provides additional information on the proposed service model if a commissioning decision is made. This is commercial and sensitive as it contains information that would give potential providers advance knowledge of decisions which should only be released through the formal procurement route. Therefore:

the public should be excluded during consideration of Annex 1 to the report because its discussion in public would be likely to lead to the disclosure to members of the public present of information in the following prescribed category:

3.            Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that such disclosure would give potential providers advance knowledge of decisions which should only be released through the formal procurement route.

The Cabinet Member for Public Health & the Voluntary Sector is RECOMMENDED to approve the incurring of expenditure for the commissioning of the Smoking Cessation Programme and to delegate to the Director of Public Health, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Public Health and the Voluntary Sector, the authority to determine tenders and contracts in order to secure the provision of services’.

Approved.

Item 5 – Smoking Cessation Programme

Question

The statistic that two-thirds of smoking adults become addicted before they are 18 years old is troubling. There is the issue of where the adolescents are getting cigarettes given the restrictions on sales and whether multi-agency work in this area is effective or has a high enough profile? Is there a specific target for quitters under the age of 18?

Answer

Where are adolescents getting cigarettes given the restrictions on sales?

Tobacco may be available from:

·         Parents/adults who smoke

·         Shops who are not adhering to Trading Standards enforcement or

·         Other sources such as the internet/local community/black market. These areas are enforced by HMRC (and Trading Standards if not properly packaged).

Multi-agency work in this area

·         The Oxfordshire Tobacco Alliance includes representatives from Trading Standards, who have links with HMRC. 

·         The Oxfordshire Smoking Advice Service campaign advocating for Smoke Free Cars and Homes may reduce access to tobacco products by adolescents at home. This campaign is promoted to Health Visitors and other stakeholders.

There is currently no target for under 18 year quitters.