{"id":26188,"date":"2026-05-05T10:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/?p=26188"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:08:10","slug":"south-west-directors-of-public-health-welcome-tobacco-and-vapes-act-becoming-law-and-urge-the-520000-people-who-smoke-to-take-the-moment-to-quit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/health-and-wellbeing\/south-west-directors-of-public-health-welcome-tobacco-and-vapes-act-becoming-law-and-urge-the-520000-people-who-smoke-to-take-the-moment-to-quit\/","title":{"rendered":"South West Directors of Public Health welcome Tobacco and Vapes Act becoming law \u2013 and urge the 520,000 people who smoke to take the moment to quit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Directors of Public Health across the South West of England have welcomed Royal Assent of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, describing it as a once-in-a-generation moment in the fight against the leading cause of preventable death in the region.<\/p>\n

The new Act \u2013 which introduces a generational ban on the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, new powers to create further smoke-free places, a UK-wide ban on vape advertising and sponsorship, and a licensing scheme for retailers of tobacco and nicotine products \u2013 received Royal Assent on 29th April 2026.The generational age-of-sale provisions are expected to come into force from 1 January 2027.<\/p>\n

In February 2026, the Directors of Public Health of the South West \u2013 alongside their Council Leaders \u2013 wrote jointly to the Minister for Public Health and Prevention, urging the Government to ensure the Bill\u2019s swift and undiluted passage through its final Parliamentary stages. Today\u2019s announcement means that call has been answered.<\/p>\n

Councillor Alison Evans, cabinet member responsible for Public Health at South Gloucestershire Council, said: \u201cThis is great news and a welcome development following the letter which was sent in February in which every Director of Public Health across the South West, together with our Council Leaders, wrote jointly to the Minister urging her to pass this bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlongside the continued support that local smokefree services provide, this bill can help to reduce the prevalence of smoking and ensure that our residents have a better chance to live long and healthy lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the generational ban will protect future generations, public health leaders are urging the more than 520,000 adults across the South West who currently smoke to use this moment as a prompt to stop for good.<\/p>\n

The latest NHS data shows that momentum is already building: nearly 26,000 people in the South West pledged to stop smoking in the year to March 2025 \u2013 up from around 15,000 the year before \u2013 and 13,500 of them had not smoked a cigarette four weeks into their quit attempt, a 79% increase on the previous year.<\/p>\n

People who smoke in the South Gloucestershire can access free support by accessing the Smokefree South Glos service which offers support to help you quit smoking.
\nVisit our One You South Gloucestershire website for more information: https:\/\/oneyou.southglos.gov.uk\/for-your-body\/be-smoke-free\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The South West Association of Directors of Public Health is continuing to work with Council Leaders, the NHS, Trading Standards and voluntary and community sector partners towards the regional ambition of a smoke-free South West by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Directors of Public Health across the South West of England have welcomed Royal Assent of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, describing it as a once-in-a-generation moment in the fight against the leading cause of preventable death in the region. The new Act \u2013 which introduces a generational ban on the sale of tobacco to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":624,"featured_media":26190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[571],"tags":[1944,1041,2757],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/624"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26189,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26188\/revisions\/26189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}