Further memorandum by Action on Smoking
and Health (ASH) (WP O7A)
I wish to make an addition to our submission
on the Government's Public Health White Paper, with respect to
the levels of staffing required to ensure effective implementation
of the White Paper. In particular smokefree legislation envisaged
in the White Paper will require significant policy input in order
for it to be effectively developed and steered successfully through
Parliament. The tobacco team at the Department of Health has been
cut back from fifteen members two years ago to only five now,
only three of whom are senior policy staff.
Despite requests we have not yet been able to
find out whether, and how, this team will be strengthened in order
to bring in the legislation. It is our understanding that in Scotland,
where there are plans to introduce simple comprehensive legislation
which will be easier to design and implement, the tobacco team
has already been increased by four people simply to handle the
legislation. In England, where it is planned that there should
be exemptions to the legislation which will be complex to draft
and to implement, an increase of at least this order of magnitude
is required.
The timing is tight for legislation to be introduced
in the timescale envisaged and work needs to be underway on this
already. We would urge you to ask the Department of Health, and
in particular the Deputy CMO whose area this is, Fiona Adshead,
to clarify what work has been done to analyse the staffing resources
needed to bring in smokefree legislation, and when and where these
additional staff will be put in place.
February 2005
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