Lord Rennard
Main Page: Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Rennard's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(5 years, 4 months ago)
Lords ChamberMy noble friend is right that poor air quality is one of the largest environmental risks to public health in the UK. That is exactly why we brought forward the air quality strategy, which has been identified by the WHO as an example for the rest of the world to follow. But he is right that it will not work if we do not also tackle variation across the country. That is exactly what we intend to do and why we will also look at air pollution as part of the Green Paper, which is due imminently.
My Lords, 6.1 million people in this country still smoke. The NHS long-term plan is good at encouraging further measures to reduce the prevalence of smoking. At the same time, 50% of local authorities have had to reduce funding for smoking-cessation services, even though smokers trying to quit are four times more likely to succeed if they can benefit from such services. Is it not essential to reverse cuts in funding to Public Health England and spend money cost effectively on further advertising campaigns to reduce the prevalence of smoking among adults in this country?
The noble Lord is right to praise the success that we have had in smoking cessation in this country. We now have the lowest rates of smoking that we have ever had, some of which is because of the work of local authorities and PHE. He is right to identify the need to target the variation and inequalities. We are targeting this through the prevention Green Paper and we identify the need for a sustainable funding settlement through the spending review allocation.