Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Agrees to the proposed allocation of this grant to support the delivery of stop-smoking services as detailed across the themes within the Tobacco Control Work Plan.

2.    Agrees that the approval of the details of the type of stop-smoking services and their administration is delegated to the Public Health Director in line with the Tobacco Work Plan. 

Consideration was given to the report which outlined how a grant, provided by the Department of Health and Social Care to support people in stopping smoking, would be allocated in line with the Rotherham Tobacco Control Work Plan. The value of the grant for 2024/25 was £384,845. A similar amount was expected (to be confirmed annually) each year through to 2028/29, giving an estimated total of £1.92m over five years.

On 8 November 2023, the Government announced a set of Tobacco Control proposals in response to the Khan Review and the Government's ambition to make England smoke-free by 2030. Alongside the proposed legislation to create a 'Smokefree Generation', a ringfenced £70m Local Stop Smoking and Support Grant was announced with the intention of supporting an additional 360,000 people to quit smoking nationally.

The funding provided to Rotherham would stimulate additional quit attempts, link smokers to effective interventions, boost community stop-smoking service (CSSS) capacity, build professional competence, and strengthen partnerships within local healthcare systems. This additional funding was crucial; however, current modelling by Rotherham’s Public Health Intelligence team indicated that reaching Rotherham's ambition to become Smokefree by 2030 (<5% prevalence) could require further investment.

The strategic aims and proposed activity included encouraging and supporting smokers to quit for good; reducing variation in smoking rates by tackling inequalities; delivering a coordinated tobacco control policy, strategy, governance and monitoring system and reducing the number of people taking up smoking.

Councillor Roche stated that this was good news for the borough.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1. Agrees to the proposed allocation of this grant to support the delivery of stop smoking services as detailed across the themes within the Tobacco Control Work Plan.
   
   
2. Agrees that the approval of the details of the type of stop-smoking services and their administration is delegated to the Public Health Director in line with the Tobacco Work Plan.