Alcohol and cigarettes being shunned by borough’s young

Councillor Jacqui Beswick

Youngsters in the borough of Rochdale are binning the booze and stubbing out the cigarettes, according to a recent survey.

Figures from the Young Persons’ Alcohol, Tobacco and E-Cigarette Survey 2017 showed a pleasing decline in the number of young people in the borough drinking alcohol and smoking.

311 secondary school pupils took part in the survey conducted by Trading Standards North West, which looks at attitudes towards alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarettes among young people aged 14 to 17.

84% of the young people asked said they had never drunk alcohol, a figure that has increased with each survey; the 2015 survey reported 46% as never having drunk alcohol.

There has also been a large decline in the proportion of 16-year-olds drinking once a week or more.

The survey also noted a change in young people’s attitudes towards alcohol with the percentage that felt getting drunk was normal and fun halving since 2015.

When asked about smoking seven in 10 of the children asked said they had never smoked and the percentage claiming to smoke has more than halved in the last 10 years.

Over half (59%) also said they had never tried an e-cigarette.

The council and its partners have been working to protect young people for the harms of alcohol and tobacco by running education schemes in schools, like the Decipher-Assist peer support programme, which highlights the dangers of smoking, introducing smoke free homes, cars, places and sports clubs, preventing underage alcohol and tobacco sales with the Responsible Retailers scheme and pledging to help residents who need support to quit.

Councillor Jacqueline Beswick, the council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “It is pleasing to see that our young people are taking responsibility for their own health and wellbeing and making good lifestyle choices, which will help them thrive in the years to come. We have been doing a lot of work to encourage healthy lifestyles with our young people and it is great to see the fruits of that labour paying off. Our overall aim is to make our borough a healthier place to live so long may it continue.”