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<p>Smoking rates in England have been consistently falling and are currently at the
lowest rate on record at 12.7%, based on 2022 data.</p><p>The Government remains firmly
committed to the ambition of England being Smokefree by 2030, namely a smoking prevalence
of 5% or less, and recognises that progress must be accelerated to meet this bold
ambition. On 4 October 2023, the Prime Minister unveiled plans to introduce a new
law to stop children who turn 14 this year or younger from ever legally being sold
cigarettes, in a bid to create the first ‘smokefree generation’. This announcement
was accompanied with additional funding including £70 million extra per year to fund
local stop smoking services and £5 million this year and then £15 million per year
thereafter to fund national stop smoking marketing campaigns.</p><p>This is in addition
to a range of other measures which we announced in April 2023. The measures included
a new national swap to stop scheme to provide vapes to one million smokers to help
them to quit, and an evidence-based financial incentives scheme to help all pregnant
smokers to quit.</p><p>We are confident that these new measures, in addition to the
actions we are already taking, will set us on course to achieve our Smokefree 2030
ambition. We will continue to monitor progress.</p>
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