Council to buy £477k of vapes to help smokers quit

A council is set to spend up to £477,000 on e-cigarettes to help residents quit smoking.

Since e-cigarettes were introduced as part of North Yorkshire Council's Living Well Smokefree service in July 2023, 487 people have used them to help quit, with a third of those staying smoke-free after a year.

A report due to be considered by councillors recommends launching a procurement process to secure a supplier of these e-cigarettes.

The proposed contract would run from July 2026 to July 2029, responding to demand with no guarantee the full amount would be spent.

Those eligible would receive online vouchers for reusable, rechargeable devices and associated products.

The costs of this would be covered by ring-fenced public health funding, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The funding forms part of the Government's Smokefree Generation plans, which aim to reduce national smoking rates to 5% by 2030.

Council documents said smoking remained the biggest preventable killer in the UK, costing North Yorkshire Council approximately £400m a year in health and social care and the wider impact.

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