The Faculty of Public Health welcomes the independent report “Making Smoking Obsolete” by Dr. Javed Khan OBE, and urges Government to take immediate action to implement the report’s recommendations.
Drastically reducing smoking rates is one of the most effective public health interventions that Government can deliver to ‘level-up’ health and reduce inequalities.
The report outlines key actions that Government must take in order to meet the Smokefree 2030 ambition for England, without which the target will be missed by at least 7 years.
The report sets out the case for a comprehensive investment of £125 million per year in Smokefree 2030 policies, including an extra ringfenced £70 million per year in stop smoking services.
FPH calls on Government to immediately make this investment, and follow the report’s recommendation that if Government cannot fund this themselves they should introduce a tobacco industry levy or generate additional corporation tax.
FPH also supports other key recommendations to raise the age of sale year-on-year until no one can legally buy tobacco in England, and for Government to support a greater role for preventative activities in primary and secondary NHS settings to reduce the £2.4 billion that smoking costs our health service every year.
Alongside these recommendations, Government must also deliver the delayed Tobacco Control Plan by the end of this year, following the recommendations of the APPG on Smoking and Health to match the ambitions of the review to make smoking obsolete.
FPH President Professor Maggie Rae said “This report from Dr. Javed Khan sets out a clear roadmap for Government to meet the ambition of making smoking obsolete in England.
FPH have joined with partners such as Action on Smoking Health to call on Government to re-focus and re-invest in order to meet its Smokefree 2030 target. This report confirms that unless determined action is taken we will miss this target, and we will continue to see more preventable deaths from smoking.
We support the recommendations outlined in this report and urge Government to follow them to save lives and reduce health inequalities.”
FPH Smoking Lead Dr. Helen Waters said "I welcome this evidence-based report which clearly lays out the magnitude of the problems caused by smoking alongside practical, achievable mitigations that will save lives and level-up health inequalities.”
