HC Deb 20 December 1988 vol 144 cc232-3W
Mr. Michael Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the current balance between the public and private funding of Action on Smoking and Health; and if he has any plans to encourage the organisation to increase its funding from private and voluntary sources;

(2) what is the cost to public funds of Action on Smoking and Health in the current financial year; and what grants he intends to make to it in 1989–90;

(3) what evaluation of the effectiveness of his Department's grant to Action on Smoking and Health there has been since such grants were made available.

Mr. Freeman

We expect that the total cost to public funds of support for Action on Smoking and Health in 1988–89 will be £230,000; this amount being a grant from the Department of Health under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968. Under a three-year agreement lasting until 1990–91 the section 64 grant in 1989–90 will be paid at the current level, with the possibility of an additional amount to reflect inflation, subject to the overall sum being a 1 per cent. reduction in real terms over the amount paid in 1988–89. The final grant level would be subject to agreement by Ministers. No other Government support is currently planned.

We wish to see ASH becoming less reliant on Government funding and this has been the subject of discussions with the organisation. Following these discussions ASH has set targets for increased fund raising which will lead to a reduction in the proportion of its funding which it receives from Government sources. ASH has received Government funding since 1971 and has grown into an effective adjunct to successive Governments' campaigns against smoking. Over that period the prevalence of regular cigarette smoking by adults in the United Kingdom has falledn from 46 per cent. to 33 per cent. ASH's plans and achievements are reviewed yearly. It is currently expanding its activities in assisting employers design workplace smoking policies. This is an activity which the Government welcome and encourage. ASH has also developed an extremely useful database on smoking policy matters. I believe the Department gets very good value for the support it gives to ASH.