Smoke Free Newcastle

Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable early death, ill health and health inequalities in Newcastle.  It kills one in every two lifelong smokers.

In 2023, 78% of North East adults supported ending smoking.  We want the same as a city, "to make smoking history"; to reach a point in time when tobacco smoking and the harm it causes is a thing of the past.  Our vision is that all children born today will grow up to live a smoke free life.  We would like to see no more than 5% of the city’s adults smoke by 2030.

Tobacco control is the term used to describe all the different types of work the Newcastle City Council is doing to reduce smoking.  A partnership of organisations is working together to reduce smoking across Newcastle.  This is called Smoke Free Newcastle.  It includes statutory and voluntary organisations such as the Newcastle City Council, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, Healthworks Newcastle, Change Grow Live, and the Health and Race Equality Forum.

Smoke Free Newcastle Plan

Smoke Free Newcastle has an annual plan outlining its work to tackle smoking. Smoke Free Newcastle works closely with Fresh; Smoke Free North East to do this work. Their work focusses on:

• Protecting people from passive or secondhand smoke
• Supporting smokers to quit smoking
• Developing health education campaigns giving information, support and advice on secondhand smoke, giving up smoking and illegal tobacco
• Preventing children and young people from taking up smoking
• Campaigning for changes to strengthen laws on smoking
• Making sure national laws and regulations related to smoking are being enforced. This includes for example; making sure retailers are not selling cigarettes and tobacco to anyone under the age of 18 years
• Tackling illegal tobacco through the Keep It Out campaign
• Supporting research related to smoking

To see the Smokefree Newcastle 2018-2019 report go to Report (pdf 360 kb)   

The Khan review: making smoking obsolete

The independent review by Dr Javed Khan OBE into the government’s ambition to make England smokefree by 2030 was published on the 9 June 2022.

This review was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and it provides independent, evidence-based advice that will inform the government’s approach to reduce the numbers of people taking up smoking and helping smokers to quit.

The review makes 15 recommendations for government to achieve a smokefree society. This includes 4 critical recommendations:

1. Urgently invest £125 million per year in a comprehensive smokefree 2030 programme. Options to fund this include a ‘polluter pays’ levy.
2. Increase the age of sale by one year, every year.
3. Offer vaping as a substitute for smoking, alongside accurate information on the benefits of switching, including to healthcare professionals.
4. For the NHS to prioritise further action to stop people from smoking, by providing support and treatment across all of its services, including primary care.

For further detail go to Gov.uk

Regulation and enforcement

For information on legislation and enforcement, please see the following pages:

• Health Act 2006 - smoke free places
• age-restricted products
• Shisha Lounges: Guidance

Safety of Batteries in Electronic Cigarettes

To access information on the safety campaign on the safety of batteries in electronic cigarettes, announced on the 17 February 2020 go to Gov.uk