What an amazing couple of weeks it's been.

Yesterday Neil O'Brein announced a raft of new measures which included:

NHS figures for 2021 showed that 9% of 11 to 15 year old children used e-cigarettes, up from 6% in 2018.

"In recognition of the sharp increase, Minister O’Brien will launch a call for evidence on youth vaping to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vape products - and explore where government can go further.

Working with enforcement agencies and learning from the government’s work with Trading Standards on illicit tobacco, £3 million of new funding will also be provided to create a specialised ‘illicit vapes enforcement squad’ to enforce the rules on vaping and tackle illicit vapes and underage sales.

As part of the measures, HMRC and Border Force will also be publishing an updated strategy this year to tackle illicit tobacco. It will lay out strategically how we continue to target, catch and punish those involved in the illicit tobacco market."

On the 11th April, The UK Government also announced an Open Consultation - Youth Vaping: call for evidence - This is your chance to get involved!  You can respond to this call for evidence by completing the online survey on youth vaping

What still needs to be done?

• Speak with your children, get a grip on their vaping before it turns to something else
• Speak with schools, encourage them to treat vaping differently from smoking, creating safe spaces
• Speak with Trading Standards if you believe shops are selling vapes to children
• Speak with you MP, get them to push Neil O'Brien to take further action
• Check the ASH website for more resources
• If you can afford it, please donate to the change.org site to promote this petition further!

Thank you for your continued support