POLICY MAKING IN THE UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

POLICY MAKING IN THE UK - Essay Example nd its prevention were recognized a hundred years ago, political concern and legal steps to stop this problem started from the 1950s (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2000). It has become an acute problem nowadays because Smoking remains the main cause of preventable disease and premature death in the UK. In England alone, over 80,000 deaths per year are due to smoking and about 8.5 million people still smoke in England today. (dh.gov.uk). In the case of UK, the anti-tobacco strategy is carried as a cross-government initiative involving a variety of departments and agencies. The Health Department has the overall responsibility for the delivery of anti-tobacco strategy through formulation of strict laws. UK government formulated its anti-tobacco policy to the extent that it did not want young people to be exposed to tobacco promotions and advertisements and importantly wanted to make it difficult for the young people to get hold of tobacco and tobacco related product of cigarette. As far a s the promotions and advertisements are concerned, the UK government believes that if children or young people are not exposed to it, it will not create an urge among them to smoke. Tobacco policy currently rests on claims: tobacco advertising and promotion are the major reasons why young people begin to smoke; so all forms of tobacco advertising and promotion, including tobacco displays, should be banned. (Basham). As part of the anti-tobacco policy, the government came up with the Health Bill 2009. The key proposals in the bill are the need for the commercial shops to remove tobacco displays and importantly restrict the sale of cigarettes from vending machines. Removing tobacco displays will in a way prevent prospective children and young people from being exposed to the promotions and will also support smokers who want to quit as displays prompt impulse purchases undermining efforts to give up. (dh.gov.uk). Also, the proposal to restrict or even ban the sale of cigarettes from the