Scotland's Future is Smoke Free: A Smoking Prevention Action Plan

Chapter 3: Health Education & Promotion

1. To facilitate the adoption of a holistic approach to health and well-being in Scottish schools to be fostered through the Health Promoting School and a Curriculum for Excellence, which will be aimed at ensuring the school ethos, policies, services and extra-curriculum activities all foster the health and wellbeing of all the pupils.

Scottish Government/Learning Teaching Scotland

Ongoing

2. To produce advice, guidance and proposals aimed at helping schools and authorities via an expert steering group looking at substance misuse education in schools, to achieve the improvements sought through Curriculum for Excellence and The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) Act 2007 (taking into consideration the key findings of the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Drugs Education in Schools), particularly so that appropriate teaching materials are available and are being used most effectively, and education is planned and delivered in partnership with inputs from health, the Police and the community.

Scottish Government

Ongoing

3. To explore with relevant interests, including universities and colleges of further education and other major training providers, student associations and the National Union of Students, steps which they might take to discourage and support students and trainees from starting to smoke as a core part of wider substance use and other risk-taking behaviour programmes.

NHS Health Scotland

2008/09

4. To explore with relevant interests and agencies steps which might be taken to engage with harder to reach groups such as those who are not in employment, education or training or who are in occupations or settings with higher than average smoking levels, including through engagement with the Scottish Prison Service and HM Forces.

NHS Health Scotland/ PATH

2008/09

5. To encourage all those responsible for smoking prevention activity aimed at children and young people to actively involve children and young people themselves in the planning and delivery of services and programmes to ensure their perspective is fully reflected in the approaches adopted and to encourage active citizenship.

All relevant agencies - NHS Boards, local authorities, etc

Ongoing

6. To embrace tobacco issues within the Health Improvement Social Marketing Strategy ( HISMS) to ensure that future national campaigns and the local activity underpinning this, including by third sector organisations, provides a clear, supportive and inclusive route map to positive behaviour leading to a healthy life.

Scottish Government

Ongoing

7. To consider, as part of the collaborative planning and approval mechanisms under the HISMS, the value of developing a multi-faceted campaign, integrated with local services and initiatives and engaging the full range of health and other professionals, which is targeted at parents to raise awareness of the impact of tobacco on their children's health, including from second-hand smoke, specifically aimed at encouraging smoke-free lifestyles, homes and family vehicles.

Scottish Government/ NHS Health Scotland

Ongoing

8. To ensure as part of the youth strand of the HISMS an ongoing multi-stranded media campaign is in place to discourage uptake of smoking by young people and which has a specific strand focusing on girls and young women in disadvantaged areas.

Scottish Government

Ongoing

9. To encourage schools and all youth work/ community settings where young people gather to adopt clear no smoking policies and in addition we ask that they reinforce messages concerning the addictiveness and health risks associated with smoking.

Local Authorities/ Community Learning & Development Partnerships/YouthLink Scotland/ NHS Boards

Ongoing

10. To develop and assess the feasibility of a small number of pilot interventions designed to discourage the uptake and/or encourage smoking cessation in young people, particularly those living in disadvantaged circumstances; and, if appropriate, to evaluate the effectiveness of the most promising intervention(s).

NHS Health Scotland/ Partnership Action on Tobacco & Health

2009/10

Chapter 4: Reducing the attractiveness of tobacco products

11. To introduce legislative controls to further restrict the display of tobacco products at points of sale, and to work with retailers on the implementation of these measures.

Scottish Government

At the earliest legislative opportunity

12. To consider with the UK Government and other devolved administrations, the impact of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 and consider further action which might be taken to reduce positive images of smoking in the media, including examining the impact of film classification, and the scope for making anti-smoking adverts mandatory prior to the screening of any film which contains smoking imagery.

Scottish Government

Ongoing

13. To consider with the UK Government and other devolved administrations the impact of the introduction by the end of 2008 of picture warnings on cigarette packs and to consider whether it would be desirable to move towards plain packaging of tobacco products.

Scottish Government

Ongoing

14. To encourage all organisations and agencies who in come into contact with children and young, including NHS organisations, local authorities and care providers, to have a health leadership role and be at the vanguard of changing smoking cultures in Scotland, by, for example, introducing smoke-free policies in external areas frequented by children and young people such as playgrounds.

NHS organisations, local authorities and care providers etc

Ongoing

Chapter 5: Reducing the availability of tobacco products

15. To work in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities ( COSLA), Scottish local authorities, the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland ( SCOTSS) and other relevant interests to develop an outcome-focused scheme to secure more rigorous enforcement of tobacco sales law. Also, as per Action 20, to ensure this complements action to reduce illicit sales of tobacco.

Scottish Government/Local authorities

Launch scheme by end 2008

16. To review and update statutory controls on the sale of tobacco products. This will involve a number of possible measures, including the introduction of a system of licensing and new sanctions such as cautions and fixed penalty notices for breaches of the law.

Scottish Government

At the earliest legislative opportunity

17. To consider with relevant stakeholders, including at UK level, what further steps, including legislative, might be taken to reduce illegal sales of cigarettes from vending machines as part of the review at Action 16.

Scottish Government

As per Action 16

18. To continue to work with all relevant stakeholders, including retailers, to promote and embed a "no proof, no sale" culture, including through measures to encourage the uptake of Young Scot/Dialogue Youth "National Entitlement Card".

Scottish Government

Ongoing

Chapter 6 : Reducing the affordability of tobacco products

19. To keep the pressure on the UK Government to ensure duty on tobacco products is sufficiently high to keep prices in line with the cost of living.

Scottish Government

Ongoing

20. To collaborate with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to reduce the impact of illicit sales of tobacco products on Scottish communities with action linked to better enforcement of tobacco sales law as per Action 15.

Scottish Government

Ongoing

21. To consider issues arising from the sale of cigarettes in packets of less than 20, as part of the planned legislative review proposed at Action 16.

Scottish Government

As per Action 16

Chapter 7: Delivering, resourcing and measuring progress

22. To use the Scottish Ministerial Working Group on Tobacco Control to oversee and advise upon the implementation of this Action Plan.

Scottish Government

Ongoing

23. To allocate additional funding to NHS Boards of £1.5m in each of the years 2008/09 to 2010/11 to enable them to co-ordinate action locally to underpin the measures outlined in this Action Plan and to ensure this is reflected in their tobacco control programmes.

Scottish Government/ NHS Boards

from 2008/09

24. To continue to support the activities of ASH Scotland, the Scottish Tobacco Control Alliance and Partnership Action on Tobacco and Health within an agreed outcome framework specifying their contribution to the actions identified in this Plan.

Scottish Government

from 2008/09

25. To allocate funding within the spirit of the new relationship between the Scottish Government and local authorities, of £1.5m in each of the years 2008/09 to 2010/2011 to enable them, as set out at Actions 15, 18 and 20, to step up enforcement of tobacco sales law and to work in partnership with HM Revenue and Customs to tackle illicit sales of tobacco.

Scottish Government/Local authorities

from 2008/09

26. To set new separate targets for boys and girls aged 13 and 15 and for 16 to 24 year olds to reflect the action within this plan as follows:

To reduce the level of smoking amongst:

• 13 year old girls from 5% in 2006 to 3% in 2014.
• 13 year old boys from 3% in 2006 to 2% in 2014.
• 15 year old girls from 18% in 2006 to 14% in 2014.
• 15 year old boys from 12% in 2006 to 9% in 2014.
• 16 to 24 year olds from 26.5% in 2006 to 22.9% in 2012.

Scottish Government

from 2008/09

27. To develop a research and evaluation framework to support the action in this plan setting clear timelines for action under the plan to be reviewed, as part of the wider tobacco control research and evaluation programme for "A Breath of Fresh Air for Scotland".

NHS Health Scotland

2008/09