Smokers in deprived areas struggle to quit

TENS of thousands of Scots have given up cigarettes since the smoking ban was introduced last year but the new legislation has had little impact on those living in deprived areas.

The Scottish Household Survey 2006 shows the number of smokers in affluent areas fell two percentage points during 2006, when the ban came in, to 12 per cent. However the number of smokers in deprived areas has not changed, with 41 per cent of the population still hooked.

Doctors said the public awareness campaign and boost in cessation services which accompanied the March 2006 ban had more effect in middle-class areas and called for extra funding to help people on low incomes stop smoking.

Overall, fewer adults are smoking, down from 26 per cent of the population to 25 per cent.

However, women in the 16 to 24-year-old and 35 to 44-year-old age group are smoking slightly more as the habit is seen as a fashion statement.

The annual survey of 15,618 households for the Scottish Executive, revealed a continuing disparity between rich and poor, with just 41 per cent of people in deprived areas describing their health as good, compared to 64 per cent in the richest.

Maureen Moore, chief executive of the anti-smoking pressure group ASH Scotland, said cessation services - which came in before the ban - generally have more effect in the least deprived areas where people have better access to health care and media campaigns.

She said: "The heavy smokers in deprived areas we have not been successful in stopping because we need much more money for cessation services and different ways of bringing people into cessation services, not just in health. For instance at debt counselling, and sexual health counselling.

"The reach of the current cessation services do not go far enough. We need to change that."

Ms Moore also called for further measures to stop young people smoking by ending over-the-counter sales and tobacco advertising in corner shops.

She said young girls in particular need to be targeted as they are under pressure to smoke as a fashion statement.

"Boys are going into sport which acts as a deterrent. But girls are more affected by body image, peer pressure and role models. You see Kate Moss smoking all the time. It is still perceived as glamorous. It is depressing, but it is."

A spokesman for Forest, the smokers' campaign group, said: "Smoking bans do not encourage people on low incomes to give up smoking."

The Scottish government is tackling smoking on a number of fronts, including raising the age at which people are allowed to buy cigarettes to 18.

MORE PEOPLE RECYCLING

FOUR out of five people are recycling their rubbish as facilities improve and people become more environmentally aware.

The statistics for 2006 show that 80 per cent of households recycled at least some glass, paper, metal or plastic within the previous month. That compares with 75 per cent the previous year and in 2004, when just 61 per cent recycled at least part of their household waste. However, recycling is correlated to whether households have access to a car. Two-thirds of Scots with access to a car recycle glass bottles, compared with 38 per cent without.

• Meanwhile, the internet revolution has not reached everywhere. While 73 per cent of households with the internet have a broadband connection, this is much lower in remote rural areas, where just 57 per cent have access. Also, access appears to decline with advancing age.

CAR USE IS ON THE RISE

SOCIETY continues to become more reliant on the car. Just over two-thirds of households and 99 per cent of households with an income of more than 40,000 have access to a car. At the same time, 63 per cent of people use a car or van to get to work, while the number of children walking to school has fallen from 53 per cent to 51 per cent, with 21 per cent taken to school by car.

• Council services appear to be improving. Some 43 per cent of adults think their council provides high-quality services, a rise of 1 per cent on 2005. With local health services a controversial issue, only 53 per cent of respondents with access to a car and less than half (45 per cent) of those without car access find outpatients departments very or fairly convenient.

Adults with access to a car are less likely to say public transport is convenient (83 per cent), compared with those without (94 per cent).

SOCIETY IN STATISTICS

DESPITE rising prices owner occupation has remained static and two thirds of Scots own their home outright or have a mortgage, while 25 per cent rent from the council or a housing association. Figures reveal that just 8 per cent rent from a private landlord. Around two-thirds of single parent families live in rented accommodation, compared with around a quarter of other families.

• The survey shows that 92 per cent of adults feel their local area is either a "very good" or "fairly good" place to live, compared to 93 per cent in 2005. But there is considerable variation, with 73 per cent in the least deprived areas describing their neighbourhoods as "very good".

The poorest areas suffer from the highest rates of concern over crime, drugs, rowdy behaviour, vandalism and litter. But fewer adults in the least deprived areas feel these issues are a problem.