The Health Improvement Commission has conducted extensive public-engagement research to gather opinions on potential future tobacco policy measures, which would aim to reduce smoking rates.
The consultation involved a survey completed by 906 adults and focus groups with 30 young people. The findings reveal strong public support for 11 potential new policies including:
- 89% of Guernsey adults support banning smoking in children’s playgrounds
- 79% of Guernsey adults support banning smoking in transit areas such as covered bus shelters
- 73% of Guernsey adults support raising the legal age of tobacco sales from 18 to 21
- 66% of Guernsey adults support banning smoking in outdoor areas of sports venues
- 65% of Guernsey adults support banning smoking in outdoor areas of restaurants and cafés
All 11 proposed policies received support from more than 50% of respondents.
The focus groups with young people showed that they were supportive of new measures aimed at reducing smoking rates and provided a deeper insight into their views. Key insights included:
- Support for Smoke-Free Spaces: Strong support for creating more smoke-free public spaces, especially in areas frequented by children. One individual noted: “That’s the thing like, round kids’ parks and stuff like that, I reckon that’s where it should stop ‘cause if you’re a young nipper and you see it and smoke coming out of someone’s mouth, you might just think that’s cool.”
- Extend Smoking Bans: Support for extending indoor smoking bans to outdoor areas of restaurants and cafés.
- Raise the Age for Buying Tobacco: Support for raising the age of sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21.
- Restrict Tobacco Retailers: Strong belief that there are too many tobacco retailers, with suggestions to reduce their number, especially near schools.
- Address Duty-Free Tobacco Sales: Concerns that duty-free tobacco provides a cheaper source often sold to young people, undermining price control measures.
Dr Nicola Brink, Director of Public Health thanked the public for their views, explaining: “This work and findings are so valuable in providing direction on future tobacco policy. We are grateful to the Health Improvement Commission for conducting this research but most importantly to all the adults and young people that gave their thoughts and feelings. This provides information to the Committee for Health & Social Care and the States of Guernsey to inform future policy development.”
Lucy Cave, Tobacco Harm Reduction Officer at the Health Improvement Commission explained the background to the work: “We conducted this research because despite local smoking rates reducing in recent times smoking continues to cause around 10% of deaths of people aged 35 and older. Guernsey has a history of taking bold upstream measures to reduce smoking rates, and we wanted to understand the views of the public on steps that could be taken in the future to continue this work. Public opinion is a key part of policy making.”
