Health bosses want to make Manchester smoke free - and are concerned about the rapid increase in vape users.
The plan to eradicate smoking was already in motion in the city before Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced his proposal to raise the legal age to buy cigarettes by a year every year. It means a child aged 14 today will never be legally sold a cigarette.
The government paper - 'Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smoke free generation’ - has been welcomed by Manchester's health and wellbeing Board.
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The meeting heard 'smoking remains the biggest cause of preventable death in Manchester’. Tackling the problem is a huge issue for leaders.
According to ONS data, smoking has reduced in Manchester since 2011, but the number of smokers in the area is still higher than the national average. The latest published data covers the calendar year 2022 and suggests that 17.3 per cent of adults aged 18 and over in Manchester currently smoke cigarettes, compared to 12.7 per cent in England as a whole.
Data also suggests that in 2019/20, there were 4,393 hospital admissions attributable to smoking in Manchester - a rate of 2,422 admissions per 100,000 population. That is much higher than the England average at a rate of 1,398 admissions per 100,000.
The board told how vaping, when used appropriately, is one method many smokes have used to manage nicotine addiction and quit smoking. But underage vaping and a counterfeit market are making things increasingly difficult.
Julie Jerram, programme lead for the Manchester population health team, said: "With vaping, it is really difficult to communicate the type of vaping that is helpful and supportive to smokers, and the rest of it.
"It has gone out of control, the amount of people that don't smoke who are vaping - with marketing making vapes attractive to children. We've got this health issue and then a criminal issue as well."
She said Trading Standards' biggest issue is illegal vapes. The council plans to run new, stop-smoking pilot schemes in Miles Platting and Newton Heath with £900,000 of government funding.
Committee member Dr Murugesan Raja described the funding as 'heart-warming' as it tackles a health issue that 'goes beyond clinical problems' and delves into addressing deprivation.
