§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will take steps to combat the increasing incidence of smoking among women; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will finance a campaign with materials specifically designed to deal with the particular problems that women smokers face when trying to give up the habit;
(3) if he will allocate funds for research into sex differences in the motivation to smoke and ability to stop.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will consider making funds available to finance a health education campaign designed to deal with the specific problems faced by women smokers.
§ Sir George YoungThe latest information available to me indicates that the prevalence of smoking amongst women in the United Kingdom has not significantly changed over the past three years. The new smoking survey currently being carried out by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys will enable possible differences between the sexes as regards the attitudes that determine smoking behaviour to be explored. This should enable the health education effort to be better informed and directed. The Government have allocated extra money to the Health Education Council for anti-smoking campaigns and these campaigns will utilise all new research findings as they become available.
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§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether his Department has made any study of the relative effects on men and women of antismoking campaigns.
§ Sir George YoungNo. It is not possible to isolate the effects of such campaigns from other factors which influence smoking behaviour.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the latest available statistics on the differences between the sexes in rates of stopping smoking.
§ Sir George YoungA recent sample survey indicated that about 8 per cent. of male, and about 7 per cent. of female, cigarette smokers had given up smoking in the previous six months.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research has been done by his Department on the sex differences of those affected by diseases directly related to smoking.
§ Sir George YoungThe Department has not commissioned research specifically to investigate any possible sex differences in smoking-related diseases but is always willing to consider the suitability for funding of appropriate research proposals.