What smoking reduction initiatives it introduced prior to 31 July 2001 and what further initiatives are or were planned for launch between …

As announced in the White Paper Smoking Kills, the Executive is providing £8 million over three years for smoking cessation and prevention activities. This supports a range of initiatives including health board cessation services. Other Executive initiatives prior to July 2001 included the launch of the Voluntary Charter on Smoking in Public Places, a review by the Lord Advocate of guidance on the use of children in test purchasing exercises, and support of pilot youth card schemes in Glasgow and Angus. Delivery of health education and promotion activities through Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS) includes mass media advertising
- for example the successful Blue sticks and Stinx campaigns and Smokeline.We have also made NRT and Zyban available on prescription and targeted a proportion of the Health Improvement Fund to enable a stepping up of smoking cessation and prevention activities.1 August 2001 onwardsThe Executive will continue to provide funding support for smoking cessation services and to HEBS for health education and promotion activities. Specific measures include the recently launched anti-smoking advertising campaign (Alien) targeted at young people, and further development of Smokeline to provide services to pregnant smokers and ethnic minority groups. A smoking cessation resource pack for health professionals, the development of health education and smoking cessation services for school-age children and a campaign to raise awareness of the risks of passive smoking are also in preparation. We will also continue to look at ways to improve enforcement of underage sales of tobacco. We will continue to support the activities of ASH Scotland. The Executive will continue to press the UK Government for the early reintroduction of a UK Bill to ban tobacco advertising and promotion.