A public health boss has underlined the importance of investing taxpayers’ money into funding stopping smoking services after being told it appeared “a bit pointless” spending funds trying to change the habits of tobacco addicts.

Richard Webb, North Yorkshire Council’s director of health and adult services, said while there was a legitimate debate over how funding and investment for stopping smoking was targeted, a proportion of those who continued to smoke were people the authority was asked to be particularly aware of.

He was speaking at a meeting of the council’s leaders after an officer’s report showed how significantly fewer people were recorded as having successfully quit smoking for at least four weeks last year than since at least 2019.

The report stated smokers setting a quit date had fallen largely due to dealing with the harder-to-quit cohort of smokers as we reduce our prevalence down year-on-year, and also following the withdrawal of Varenicline, one of the most popular stop-smoking medications.

The council’s Living Well Smokefree scheme would be increasing staff capacity, using government Smokefree generation funding, the report stated, while also using e-cigarette starter kits as part of a swap-to-stop scheme.

A National Institute for Health and Care Research study last year stated there were about 70,000 smokers in North Yorkshire, with higher rates in areas of greater deprivation, and above national average rates of smoking during pregnancy.

It found the council’s post-covid hybrid approach to providing stopping smoking support, with both face-to-face and phone coaching, had the best quit outcomes and highlighted how providing face-to-face support cost about £700 due to room hire and staff travel costs.

The council’s scrutiny of health committee chair, councillor Andrew Lee, told the executive meeting the council appeared to have “tackled the medium to low-hanging fruit” in recent years.

He questioned whether the resources the authority was pumping into its stop smoking programme “could be used in a different way, deployed elsewhere where there is more need for assistance in other public health areas”.

The question follows the council transforming its public health programmes, such as support for overweight children, in recent years due to decreasing government funding.

Cllr Lee said:

Mr Webb replied there had been a significant shift in attitudes towards smoking, and the issue centred as much on vaping as smoking following “a change in behaviour”.

He said the authority was focusing efforts on “people who are more difficult to reach and less likely to give up smoking with the easier interventions”, such as people with other addictions and those with mental health issues.

Mr Webb added:

He said a review of the stopping smoking service had been paused for the general election, but whatever the outcome of the vote on July 4, he suspected there would be a renewed focus on anti-smoking.

Read more:

• Councillors back plans for 76 homes near Knaresborough


• Labour and Greens select Wetherby and Easingwold election candidates