Agenda item
Motion Submitted by the Labour Group - Public Health Funding and Preventative Disease
This Council notes that:
- Preventable disease continues to have a massive impact on the public’s health, the NHS and the economy.
- Tobacco is the biggest cause of cancer and premature death in the UK.
- Decades of comprehensive policy action have meant adult smoking prevalence in the UK in 2019 was at a record low at 14.1%, but this masks significant inequality.
- Differences in smoking rates make it one of the leading drivers of health inequalities, responsible for half the difference in life expectancy between the lowest and highest income groups in England.
- Smoking is estimated by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) to cost society £17 billion annually for England, £2.4 billion of which falls to the NHS.
- That through their public health duties, local authorities are responsible for improving the health of their population and do this through services such as stop smoking services and wider tobacco control activities.
Further Council:
- Believes that local government must be adequately resourced to fulfil their public health duties.
- Supports Cancer Research UK’s calls for a Smokefree Fund (a fixed annual charge on the tobacco industry, making the tobacco industry pay for the damage their products cause, without being able to influence how the funds are spent) to fund local tobacco control work, and urges the UK Government to consider implementing a Smokefree Fund as part of its efforts to reach the Smokefree 2030 target and tackle health inequalities.
Minutes:
It was moved and seconded that:
“This Council notes that:
- Preventable disease continues to have a massive impact on the public’s health, the NHS and the economy.
- Tobacco is the biggest cause of cancer and premature death in the UK.
- Decades of comprehensive policy action have meant adult smoking prevalence in the UK in 2019 was at a record low at 14.1%, but this masks significant inequality.
- Differences in smoking rates make it one of the leading drivers of health inequalities, responsible for half the difference in life expectancy between the lowest and highest income groups in England.
- Smoking is estimated by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) to cost society £17 billion annually for England, £2.4 billion of which falls to the NHS.
- That through their public health duties, local authorities are responsible for improving the health of their population and do this through services such as stop smoking services and wider tobacco control activities.
Further Council:
- Believes that local government must be adequately resourced to fulfil their public health duties.
- Supports Cancer Research UK’s calls for a Smokefree Fund (a fixed annual charge on the tobacco industry, making the tobacco industry pay for the damage their products cause, without being able to influence how the funds are spent) to fund local tobacco control work, and urges the UK Government to consider implementing a Smokefree Fund as part of its efforts to reach the Smokefree 2030 target and tackle health inequalities.
Following a debate on the matter, the Motion was put to the vote and declared carried.
RESOLVED: That this Council notes that:
- Preventable disease continues to have a massive impact on the public’s health, the NHS and the economy.
- Tobacco is the biggest cause of cancer and premature death in the UK.
- Decades of comprehensive policy action have meant adult smoking prevalence in the UK in 2019 was at a record low at 14.1%, but this masks significant inequality.
- Differences in smoking rates make it one of the leading drivers of health inequalities, responsible for half the difference in life expectancy between the lowest and highest income groups in England.
- Smoking is estimated by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) to cost society £17 billion annually for England, £2.4 billion of which falls to the NHS.
- That through their public health duties, local authorities are responsible for improving the health of their population and do this through services such as stop smoking services and wider tobacco control activities.
Further Council:
- Believes that local government must be adequately resourced to fulfil their public health duties.
- Supports Cancer Research UK’s calls for a Smokefree Fund (a fixed annual charge on the tobacco industry, making the tobacco industry pay for the damage their products cause, without being able to influence how the funds are spent) to fund local tobacco control work, and urges the UK Government to consider implementing a Smokefree Fund as part of its efforts to reach the Smokefree 2030 target and tackle health inequalities.
