‘It is acknowledged that:

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Smoking is the single greatest cause of premature death and disease in our communities;

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Reducing smoking in our communities significantly increases household incomes and benefits the local economy;

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Reducing smoking amongst the most disadvantaged in our communities is the single most important means of reducing  health inequalities;

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Smoking is an addiction largely taken up by children and young people, two thirds of smokers start before the age of 18;

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Smoking is an epidemic created and sustained by the tobacco industry, which promotes uptake of smoking to replace the 80,000 people its products kill in England every year; and

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The illicit trade in tobacco funds the activities of organised criminal gangs and gives children access to cheap tobacco.

As local leaders in public health we welcome the:

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Opportunity for local government to lead local action to tackle smoking and secure the health, welfare, social, economic and environmental benefits that come from reducing smoking prevalence;

It is therefore recommended that the Council commits itself to:

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Act at a local level to reduce smoking prevalence and health inequalities and to raise the profile of the harm caused by smoking to our communities;

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Develop plans with our partners and local communities to address the causes and impacts of tobacco use;

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Participate in local and regional networks for support;

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Support the government in taking action at national level to help local authorities reduce smoking prevalence and health inequalities in our communities;

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Protect our tobacco control work from the commercial and vested interests of the tobacco industry by not accepting any partnerships, payments, gifts and services, monetary or in kind or research funding offered by the tobacco industry to officials or employees exceptasmentioned in AnnexA soasto enablethe authorityto pursueits enforcementroleconcerningillicitor unsafe tobacco;

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Monitor the progress of our plans against our commitments and publish the results; and

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Publicly declare our commitment to reducing smoking in our communities by joining the Smokefree Action Coalition, the alliance of organisations working to reduce the harm caused by tobacco.

And invites all the City’s Members of Parliament to sign this declaration too.

AnnexA

Toenablethe authoritytopursueits enforcementroleconcerningillicit orunsafetobaccothe followinginteractionwill takeplacebetween it andthe TobaccoIndustry:

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Receiptof trainingfromthe TobaccoIndustryon the identification ofillegaltobacco products;

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Examinationof illegaltobaccoproductsby the TobaccoIndustryto enablethe gatheringof intelligenceand identification ofillegaltobaccoproducts;

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Provisionof witnessstatementsfromthe TobaccoIndustryto confirmthat a tobacco productis illegaland enablelegalproceedingsto be takenforward.

Allinteractionswith theTobaccoindustrywill be recordedin a contactlog fortransparency.

(a)

the evidenced link between smoking and lung cancer;

(b)

that an announcement on plain cigarette packaging was awaited from government;

(c)

that more research was required into the effects of e cigarettes which contained nicotine and could become a gateway into smoking; 

(d)

that Plymouth required additional funding for public health to help people to stop smoking.  At present Plymouth received funding of £43 per head whilst some local authorities received over £100 per head.