Issue - meetings

To be moved by Councillor Simon Allen on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group.

The Council considered a motion from the Liberal Democrat group.

On a motion from Councillor Simon Allen, seconded by Councillor Katie Hall, it was

RESOLVED to agree the motion as set out below;

We acknowledge that:

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

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

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

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

·  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

·  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:

·  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;

·  Commitment by the government to live up to its obligations as a party to the World Health Organisation’s framework convention on Tobacco control (FCTC) and in particular to protect the development of public health policy from the vested interests of the tobacco industry; and

·  Endorsement of this declaration by Department of Health, Public Health England and professional bodies.

We commit our Council from 12^th September 2013 to:

·  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;

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

·  Participate in local and regional networks for support;

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

·  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;

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

·  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

·  Write to local MPs requesting them to ask the Government to reinstate its proposed legislation requiring cigarettes to be marketed only in standard packages and without images provided by the tobacco companies.

[Notes;

1.  The underlined wording in the resolution constitutes an adjustment moved by the Labour group and accepted by the mover and seconder of the motion.

2.  The resolution was passed with Councillor Doug Nicol abstaining and Councillor Steve Hedges voting against.]