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** 9 January 2023
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** UK
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** Wes Streeting: We must think radically — I want to phase out the existing GP system (#1)
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** Labour government could introduce a New Zealand-style ban on the sale of cigarettes, says shadow health secretary Wes Streeting (#2)
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** Betting industry will ‘keep back funds from gambling harm charity’ (#3)
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** UK
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** Wes Streeting: We must think radically — I want to phase out the existing GP system

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When Wes Streeting insists that “the NHS is a service not a shrine”, it is both personal and political. For more than 18 months, the shadow health secretary has been battling cancer as well as fighting the “highly pressured and inefficient bureaucracy” that is the health service.

Streeting wants two more big reforms, to GP services and to public health. With a record two million people waiting more than a month to see a GP, the shadow health secretary says: “I think we need to completely rethink what primary care looks like.” GPs should no longer be “the sole gatekeeper” to the NHS, he says. “I’m convinced that pharmacy has a big role to play.

Streeting is also ready to take on the libertarian right over smoking. New Zealand has introduced a law which means that nobody now under the age of 14 will ever be legally permitted to buy cigarettes, and he is interested in doing something similar here. “As the son of smokers I hated the smell of cigarette smoke growing up,” he says. “I’d like to see it phased out altogether . . . it would make such a transformational impact on the health of individuals and on the health of the nation as a whole and therefore, on the public finances in terms of the cost that we incur as a result of smoking.”

He thinks the public would be broadly supportive. “Every single anti-smoking initiative that has been introduced in this country has been fiercely opposed at the time by all sorts of vested interests, and has both had a transformational impact in terms of health and enjoyed real public support. How many of us remember the days of awful smoky nightclubs, train carriages full of smoke? Who’s calling for the return of smoking in cars with children in the back seat?”

Source: The Times, 6 January 2023



** See also: BBC- Laura Kuenssberg interviews Wes Streeting and discusses smoking and vaping at 59.30 ([link removed])
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** Labour government could introduce a New Zealand-style ban on the sale of cigarettes, says shadow health secretary Wes Streeting

A Labour government could introduce a New Zealand-style ban on the sale of cigarettes.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the party would consult on phasing out the sale of cigarettes as part of 'fresh radical thinking' to ease pressures on the NHS.

New Zealand is set to implement new laws this year that will make it illegal for anyone born after 2008 to be sold tobacco.

In what is believed to be the first such legislation in the world, the annually rising legal smoking age is aimed at preventing the country's next generation from ever taking up smoking.

Deborah Arnott, the chief executive of Ash, said: 'Tackling smoking is key as it is still a leading cause of premature death and disease, responsible for half the difference in life expectancy between rich and poor.'

'Ash supports a consultation on raising the age of sale, but also on how it should be achieved.

'The New Zealand option is one model, but another, easier to implement and widely supported by the majority of the public and tobacco retailers too is to raise the age of sale to 21. Both options should be consulted on.'

Source: The Daily Mail, 8 January 2023
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** Betting industry will ‘keep back funds from gambling harm charity’

The betting industry has threatened to redirect a quarter of the funds expected to go to a charity tackling harms caused by gambling, the Guardian understands.

The four largest members of the Betting and Gaming Council have in the past pledged to use GambleAware as the main commissioner of any money it gave to tackle problems caused by its activities.

But sources at GambleAware said the charity was informed in recent weeks by BGC that in future, 25% of funds would be kept back to distribute directly to projects chosen by Bet365, Flutter Entertainment, GVC Holdings and William Hill.

GambleAware has been criticised for being too close to the industry, for example by focusing in education programmes on the idea of “problem gambling,” which some say is a key narrative pushed by industry to deflect from the addictive nature of products they promote. But the charity has been publicly supportive of a statutory levy and experts believe the BGC may be flexing its muscles by threatening to withdraw funds.

The gambling industry pays a voluntary levy to fund research, education and treatment (RET), but experts believe the rate needs to be legally binding. Gambling licences are conditional on making an annual contribution but according to analysis by GambleAware last year, the recommended rate of 0.1% of gross gambling yield had never been met. The industry disputes this.

Will Prochaska, the strategy director of the charity Gambling With Lives, which supports families whose relatives died of gambling-related suicide, said: “This isn’t just about money it’s about influence. The industry is warning GambleAware that if they don’t toe their line the funding will be removed. Whichever other charities receive the windfall in GambleAware’s place will be being rewarded for supporting the industry’s philosophy of individual responsibility.

“It would be outrageous for the tobacco industry to control who delivers smoking cessation campaigns, so why is the gambling industry given such sway over who delivers research, education or treatment for gambling-related harm?”

Source: The Guardian, 7 January 2023
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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