HC Deb 22 June 1998 vol 314 cc388-9W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the expenditure on anti-tobacco advertising in each of the past 18 years; and what is his estimate of the total(a) numbers and (b) percentages of smokers in each of those years among (i) adults and (ii) children. [36255]

Ms Jowell

[holding answer 26 March 1998]Available information on expenditure by the Health Education Authority directly on anti-smoking advertising, on behalf of the Department, in each of the past 18 years is:

£
1980 270,000
1981 1,202,000
1982 2,052,000
1983 1,239,000
1984 1,931,000
1985 995,000
1986 747,000
1987 1,868,000
1988 480,000
1989 661,000
1990 1,459,000
1991 757,000
1992 1,122,000
1993 1,741,000
1994 3,401,000
1995 3,430,000
1996 2,783,000
1997 2,756,000

The information available on the number and percentage of smokers is given in the table:

England
Prevalence of smoking among adults aged 16 and over Prevalence of regular smoking among children aged 11-15
Year Percentage Number (000) Percentage Number (000)
1980 39 14,000 — —
1982 35 12,700 11 400
1984 33 12,400 13 450
1986 32 12,200 10 320
1988 31 11,800 8 230
1990 29 11,300 10 280
1992 28 10,700 10 290
1993 — — 10 290
1994 26 10,200 12 360
1996 28 10,800 13 390

Notes:

  1. 1. In this analysis, adult prevalence is based on those aged 16 years and over; child prevalence is based on young people aged 11–15 years
  2. 2. The percentage and number of children who are regular smokers are given (regular smokers are classified as those who smoke at least one cigarette a week)
  3. 3. Numbers of adult smokers are rounded to the nearest 100,000. Numbers of children aged 11–15 smoking regularly are rounded to the nearest 10,000

Sources: Adult prevalence is taken from the General Household Surveys, 1976–1996, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS); questions on smoking have been included biennially. Child prevalence is taken from the Smoking Among Secondary School Children Surveys, 1982–1996, conducted by the ONS on behalf of the Department of Health, these surveys have been biennial, except for the additional survey in 1993. Numbers of smokers have been obtained by combining prevalence with population estimates, supplied by ONS