§ Baroness Masham of Iltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What measures they are currently undertaking against the smoking of tobacco and cannabis by pregnant women. [HL6188]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath:A working group has been recently convened to produce a report to advise government on the evidence of harms associated with using cannabis and smoking tobacco; drawing on expertise from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and the Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health.
The group has met on two occasions to date and is aiming to provide a report in the middle of next year.
The White Paper Smoking Kills, published December 1998, announced targets to reduce smoking prevalence in children, in adults and in pregnant women. The recently issued Priorities and Planning Framework 2003–2006 set the following target for smoking in pregnancy: "deliver a one percentage point reduction per year in the proportion of women continuing to smoke throughout pregnancy, focusing especially on smokers from disadvantaged groups as a contribution to the national target to reduce by at least 10 per cent the gap in mortality between 'routine and manual' groups and the population as a whole by 2010, starting with children under one year".
An important element of the overall tobacco strategy is the health education programme to which some £55 million has been allocated in the period 1999–2000 to 2002–03. The programme includes the Partners campaign which provides information and supportive material to pregnant women and their partners. The Department of Health also funds a helpline for pregnant smokers (0800 169 9169). This service offers call-backs to women to support them through the pregnancy.