Youth commission to advise on tobacco-free target

The group of 12- to 21-year-olds will form a commission led by the youth organisation Young Scot that will inform policies that support young people who choose not to smoke.

Yesterday, the Scottish Government published a Tobacco Control Strategy that aims to reduce the proportion of the population that smokes from the current 23.3 per cent to five per cent by 2034.

The plans include providing schools and colleges with more prevention resources, and developing a greater emphasis on teaching about tobacco within the curriculum by autumn 2013.

The Scottish Government announced it would work with the UK government to move towards introducing standardised packaging for tobacco products.

It will also set a target to deliver a “substantial reduction” in children's exposure to second-hand smoke by 2020.

Louise Macdonald, chief executive of Young Scot, said the year-long youth commission on smoking prevention was "an ideal way of ensuring young people are at the centre of the co-production of policy and service design in Scotland”.

“Young Scot is looking forward to launching open recruitment for youth commissioners soon and working with young people and partners to make Scotland a tobacco-free nation," she said.

Jackie Brock, chief executive of Children in Scotland, said she it supported the strategy.

“We are pleased to see that this new strategy covers prevention, protection and cessation, and support a number of the actions outlined – particularly the commitment to reducing children’s exposure to second-hand smoke and the investment in education programmes for young people,” she said.

Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said the Scottish Government’s commitment towards introducing plain packaging was “a real step forward in the fight to protect children from tobacco addiction”.

“Replacing glitzy, brightly coloured packs that appeal to children with standard packs displaying prominent health warnings would be a huge public health achievement and give youngsters one less reason to start smoking,” said Kumar.

Scotland is the third country to set this kind of tobacco-reduction target, following New Zealand and Finland.

Office of National Statistics research suggests two thirds of UK smokers started under the age of 18 and more than a third (39%) took up the habit under the age of 16.