Doncaster Council to receive £500k for government smokefree generation scheme

Next Wednesday (13 March) cabinet is set to accept £499,326 from the Department for Health and Social Care to locally adopt a national anti-smoking scheme.

The ‘Stopping the Start’ scheme will include several support schemes to stop smoking, the reduction of vape sales and a rise in the legal age to buy tobacco products.

The legal age to buy tobacco products will increase each year, preventing sale to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.

Funding will be used for schemes including free e-cigarettes for adults aiming to quit smoking and financial incentives for pregnant smokers to quit.

The sale of vapes will also be targeted, with aims to reduce their appeal and availability to children.

Vape flavours, packaging and point of sale displays will become regulated to reduce their appeal.

The government has highlighted the need to strike a balance however, to ensure that vapes are still available to adults who are aiming to quit smoking.

Doncaster Council will develop and deliver several new quitting schemes over the initial five-year funding period.

A 2022 study by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that 30,200 adults in Doncaster smoke tobacco.

The figure marks a reduction from 19.6 percent to 12.4 percent of adults since 2021.

Smoking rates in Doncaster had remained static for seven years prior to 2021, meaning that smoking rates are declining on a rapid short-term basis.