1. Smoking: No Butts Action to cut smoking rates and reduce tobacco use should be top of the agenda for councils and local elected members. Why? - Smoking harms your community and costs you money - Public Health improvement becomes your responsibility from 2013 - This isn't an intractable problem - you can make a real and lasting difference Every year over 80,000 people die from tobacco-use; deaths from smoking are greater than the combined total of the six next greatest causes of preventable deaths including alcohol & drugs misuse and accidents. Numbers dead due to tobacco compared to other preventable diseases (2009 figures) Smoking costs the national economy nearly £14 billion each year, £2.7 billion of which is health costs, the remainder being costs to productivity, output & litter; tax revenue from tobacco sales in 2010 were around £9 billion with additional £2 billion lost to the exchequer due to smuggled & counterfeit tobacco that funds the activities of organised criminal gangs. Illustration of how the local costs of smoking are proportioned (analysis by Policy Exchange Thinktank 2010) 'Local Smoking Profiles' detail the scale & cost of smoking to your local community; they can be found at: http://www.lho.org.uk/LHO_TOPICS/ANALYTIC_TOOLS/TOBACCOCONTROLPROFILES/profile.aspx

2. 90% of all smokers start before the age of 19. Children are up to three times as likely to start smoking if one of more of their household smoke. Polls repeatedly show high popularity among the public for anti-tobacco measures such as the introduction of 'smokefree' places Disadvantaged children not only smoke in greater numbers but are also more likely to start smoking at an earlier age; smoking rates are twice as high for the poorest as they are for the richest, health inequalities start in the crib and persist to the grave. Action to reduce affordability of tobacco is the most effective means of reducing smoking, but the local availability of cheap smuggled & counterfeit tobacco undermines national increases in duty. Local Authorities already have a significant role to play in reducing the harms & costs of tobacco use, in the enforcement of regulations on age-of-sale, smuggled & counterfeit tobacco, 'Smokefree' places, ban on advertising tobacco, & have had significant success in reducing local smoking rates & health inequalities. Now Local Authorities also will have the responsibility to commission services to encourage & support smokers to quit their habit. The health costs of smoking are well known: not only is the general public behind anti-smoking strategies, but the majority of smokers wish to give up & also support efforts to reduce tobacco use. There is a strong evidence base to demonstrate the effectiveness of anti-tobacco policies in reducing smoking rates, and the harms & costs of smoking. This 'overview' is an introduction to the problem of tobacco use and what can be done locally to reduce the costs; it is supported by separate handouts on the following: The true cost of tobacco use Tobacco & children's health Tobacco & health inequalities Quitting smoking Smuggled & illicit tobacco Working together to reduce tobacco harms