HC Deb 23 July 1957 vol 574 cc203-4
21. Mr. Hamilton

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps have been taken to call the attention of all personnel in educational establishments to the relationship between lung cancer and smoking.

22. Mr. Rankin

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what advice he is giving to education authorities on methods for reducing the amount of cigarette smoking among schoolchildren.

36. Mr. Woodburn

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what arrangements are being made to bring home to schoolchildren the dangerous possibilities of cigarette smoking.

Mr. N. Macpherson

Copies of the statement made in the House on 27th June by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health and of the special Report of the Medical Research Council have been sent to all education authorities and other school managers with a request that they should ensure that the risks attached to smoking, and especially to the heavy smoking of cigarettes, are stressed in the course of health instruction. I have no doubt that before the schools reopen all concerned will consider how these risks can most effectively be brought home to pupils.

Mr. Hamilton

Is the Minister not prepared to take additional steps, apart from the ones he mentioned, and would he not be prepared that the Department itself should be responsible for the financing of some of the additional propaganda which ought to be undertaken on this very important subject?

Mr. Macpherson

With regard to the second part of the supplementary question, we will consider that. It has been decided that it should be left to education authorities to decide how to persuade children of the reality of the danger and to the local health authorities to make the danger known to the general public. With regard to the special measures used, I would inform the hon. Gentleman that a film on lung cancer has been shown to senior pupils of at least one secondary school.

Mr. Rankin

I thank the Minister for what he has done. But, in view of the admitted growth of cigarette smoking among school children, would he say what steps he is taking to direct the attention of the appropriate authorities to the need for a more vigorous enforcement of the law regarding the sale of cigarettes to young persons?

Mr. Macpherson

This is one of the matters that will be considered.

Mr. Woodburn

The Minister referred to the film shown to one secondary school class. Are the Government going to make this available throughout Scotland? That film, I understand, was very successful in Edinburgh. It would seem that the most effective way of bringing to the notice of children the danger of lung cancer is by letting them see some of the effects. The French have adopted this kind of education for children with considerable success, and I think that the Government might stimulate it a little more, because some local authorities may be backward in this matter.

Mr. Macpherson

I share the right hon. Gentleman's view, and I hope that my answer will stimulate local authorities to ask for this film.