Reducing smoking levels in Wales remains a priority for our Government. In 2012, we published our tobacco control action plan for Wales. The plan set a target to reduce smoking levels from 23 per cent in 2010 to 16 per cent by 2020. It also expressed a vision of a smoke-free society for Wales in which the harm from tobacco is eradicated. I am pleased to say that our 2012 plan has resulted in a range of health improvements for the people of Wales. These include a reduction in exposure to second-hand smoke, increased support for those wanting to quit smoking, and action to help prevent the uptake of smoking amongst young people. The smoking prevalence rate has fallen to 19 per cent. This is encouraging, but our work does not end there. We need to ensure that we take the steps we need to take if we are to maintain this momentum if we are to achieve our 16 per cent target in just three years’ time.

With that in mind, a tobacco control strategic board was established last year. The board, chaired by the chief medical officer, and its sub-groups for cessation, prevention and reducing exposure to smoking, have worked hard to develop and finalise this delivery plan, which will guide action up to 2020, and I would like to thank them for that work.

The plan I am launching today sets out the individual actions the Welsh Government and our stakeholders will take to invigorate activity and help us achieve the target and vision set out in the 2012 plan. It builds on the progress to date and will be supported by new powers contained in the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 to enable us to extend the smoking ban to certain outdoor settings such as hospital grounds and places where children play. It will also enable us to introduce other measures to discourage tobacco use and improve health outcomes, such as the introduction of a register of retailers of tobacco and nicotine products. It will also make it an offence to hand over tobacco or nicotine products to those under 18 when using home delivery and collection services.

The actions in the delivery plan will support people to give up smoking and help to prevent people from taking up smoking in the first place. There are also a number of actions included to reduce exposure to smoking so that it’s not perceived as a normal, everyday behaviour. These actions and the new regulations to extend the smoking ban to areas that children frequent are intended to protect children and young people. This will help give them the best start in life.

Our intention is for people to choose smoke-free living as their aspirational goal and the plan is launched today under our overarching brand Choose Smokefree. The brand has been developed as one that will be recognised and used for all strands of tobacco control work in Wales. Its name is very clear about what it stands for. This will ensure consistency and signposting to cessation services for those who seek it. Earlier this year, I was pleased to launch our Help Me Quit cessation service, which is the first service to sit under our new brand. The service is designed to make it easier for smokers to access help to quit smoking. Over 40 per cent of smokers make at least one quit attempt every year, so it’s important that as many of those as possible seek help to quit as this significantly increases their chances of a successful quit attempt.

This delivery plan is consistent with the goals of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and was developed by adopting the ways of working underpinning the Act. It’s also one of the responses to our national strategy, ‘Prosperity for All’. It aims to improve the health and well-being of people in Wales and to provide a greater emphasis on prevention.

During the lifetime of the plan, our tobacco control strategic board and its sub-groups will remain focused on progress and be alive to new and emerging tobacco products that threaten what we have worked so hard to successfully achieve in Wales since the introduction of the smoking ban 10 years ago. The board will ensure that we continue to plan beyond 2020 and will set further goals to achieve a smoke-free society.