One of the priorities of the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) relates to educating young people regarding the dangers presented by tobacco and alcohol. We do this in a number of ways.
Tobacco Control Alliance
PPP staff are members of the Berkshire West Tobacco Control Alliance alongside Reading and Wokingham Public Health colleagues and colleagues from the NHS and Integrated Care Board. The aim of the Tobacco Control Alliance is to protect communities from tobacco related harm through education and enforcement. We aim to do this by discouraging young people from starting to smoke and by motivating and assisting every smoker to stop the habit. The Alliance forms and agrees a Tobacco Control Plan, which is updated every two years. The plan details the priorities and actions the Alliance will aim to deliver on over the two-year term.
The Alliance work closely with our commissioned local stop smoking service, Solutions4Health to promote Smokefreelife Berkshire to residents across the three Local Authorities.
Tobacco Education
PPP officers deliver education sessions to pupils within local schools across West Berkshire to raise awareness of the health harms of smoking, with particular focus on year 9 pupils as part of their Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) lessons. Since 2007 we have also been running a yearly attitudinal survey in local schools to assess the smoking, drinking and more recently vaping habits of pupils age 11-17 years to inform our educational and enforcement work.
If you need an incentive to stop smoking at home this booklet can help. A smoke free home protects you and those you live with, reducing the risks of heart disease, lung cancer and strokes.
Alcohol Education
In addition to providing tobacco education in schools, PPP officers also deliver sessions in school PSHE lessons on the health harms of drinking alcohol.
Along with our colleagues in Public Health, we support the delivery of a yearly theatre performance and workshop for year 9 pupils in Secondary Schools across West Berkshire, which seeks to educate and inform on health harms that may impact on their lives, such as alcohol, tobacco, vaping, and exploitation.
Young Health Champions
We support our Public Health colleagues with delivering the Health and Wellbeing in Schools programme. As part of this we help with the delivery of the Young Health Champions qualification across several schools. Our work with Public Health also includes the promotion of national campaigns relating to alcohol and tobacco.
The Young Health Champions programme is a peer education approach to health promotion, empowering young people in a variety of settings to have a positive influence on their own health and the health of those around them. It is currently running in five West Berkshire schools and is proving to be a very successful initiative.
Enforcement
PPP works with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and Thames Valley Police to reduce the sale of illegal tobacco and alcohol. PPP also enforces the laws relating to the sale of age restricted products including the sale of tobacco and alcohol, for more information about this click here.
PHSE4you Podcast Links
PSHE4you is a podcast for school pupils to do with all things PSHE. Throughout the academic year colleagues from Public Health and PPP produce episodes tackling a range of subjects. PSHE4you - YouTube
Community Alcohol Partnership
The West Berkshire Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) was launched in July 2023. Local partners such as retailers, schools and the police work together to prevent the misuse of alcohol by children under 18 years old.
To report any concerns in relation to the sale of illegal tobacco or the sale of age restricted products to children under 18 years old please call the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 034 540 40506 or report it here.
Associated links
- Community Alcohol Partnerships
- Smokefreelife Berkshire
- Action on Smoking and Health
- Drinkaware
- Young People’s Drug and Alcohol Service for West Berkshire West Berkshire – The Edge - via (viaorg.uk)
- West Berkshire Drug Service West Berkshire - via (viaorg.uk)
Associated documents
