Battersea’s Jane Ellison has vowed to make Stoptober a priority as a new law which bans smoking in cars with children comes into force on October 1.
Jane Ellison, public health minister, vowed to put anti-smoking laws high on her agenda when kicked off the Public Health England conference at the University of Warwick earlier this month.
A spokesman for the Department of Health, Mark Masey, said: “It’s a big piece of legislation with lots of evidence behind it, and it’s about protecting children whose immune systems and lungs are still developing.
“Three million children are exposed to second hand smoke every year, and 34 percent of children feel uncomfortable asking people to stop smoking in the car with them.”
Ms Ellison also alluded to a forthcoming Government strategy to tackle child obesity in her keynote speech.
Other speakers at the event included MP Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, and Duncan Selbie, the Chief Executive of Public Health England.
Picture courtesy of Kyle Hovey, with thanks
