Evaluating the 2006 'No Smoking' Policy in the UK (Essay Sample)

Policy and Evaluation – The 2006 No Smoking Policy in UK
Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc69450631 \h 3Background PAGEREF _Toc69450632 \h 3Policy, Policy Analysis and Evaluation PAGEREF _Toc69450633 \h 3Health Policy and No Smoking Policy UK PAGEREF _Toc69450634 \h 4Health in All Policies PAGEREF _Toc69450635 \h 5Discussion PAGEREF _Toc69450636 \h 6History of No Smoking Policy UK PAGEREF _Toc69450637 \h 6Influence and Impact of the Policy PAGEREF _Toc69450638 \h 7Political Aims and Objectives PAGEREF _Toc69450639 \h 8Additional Interventions PAGEREF _Toc69450640 \h 8Inequalities due to Policies PAGEREF _Toc69450641 \h 9Stakeholders PAGEREF _Toc69450642 \h 10Policy evaluation PAGEREF _Toc69450643 \h 10Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc69450644 \h 12References PAGEREF _Toc69450645 \h 13
Introduction
On July 2007, a new policy was introduced, marking the end of smoking in pubs, nightclubs, workplaces, vehicles and restaurants across the UK. Before this, the ban on smoking was introduced in other places in the UK, such as Scotland in March 2006 and Wales and Ireland in April 2007. The July 2007 ban made it more prominent across the UK and a large number of resources were allocated to enforce the ban. For many individuals, it was seen as the largest public health intervention that the UK had seen in a long time. The ban was seen as a positive initiative as it led to many individuals quitting smoking and succeeding in quitting for the long-term as it became easier to avoid situations that included smoking.
This essay aims to evaluate the smoking ban policy that was placed in the UK by assessing various aspects surrounding the health policy. The essay will provide a brief background of the ban, followed by the discussion, which will involve evaluating and assessing the impact of the health policy on social, cultural, economic, politic and environmental aspects. The overall success of the policy, extra interventions that were introduced as part of the policy, stakeholders and processes involved, and various other elements of the policy will be analysed and evaluated.
Background
Policy, Policy Analysis and Evaluation
Policy is often defined as law, regulations or voluntary actions of a government or other institution and decisions made around policies are often reflected in the allocation of resources (Cairney, 2019).
Next, policy analysis is the process where the potential policy options are researched and identified in order to solve a specific problem. Following this, these identified options are compared in order to find the one that is the most effective and feasible to address the issue (Weimer and Vining, 2017).
In contrast, policy evaluation is another method that utilizes fundamental evaluation principles and processes to examine and assess the contents, implementation and impact of a specific policy. There are various types of evaluation, each specializing in assessing different aspects of the policy (Allas et al., 2018).
Health Policy and No Smoking Policy UK
Moving forward to health policies, which are essentially a set of principles that dictate how healthcare is accessed by individuals and delivered by professionals. The basic health care policies can be set at a state or national level, which is then more clearly refined at hospitals, clinics or other healthcare environments (Gore and Parker, 2019).
The chosen health policy for this essay covers the non-smoking policies that were introduced in the UK. The main intention of non-smoking policies is to protect individuals that do not smoke from second-hand smoke, which could otherwise result in serious health issues. Further, it helps in reducing the overall health issues faced by the population, as smoking can be extremely addictive and the number of smokers can continuously increase, through peer pressure and encouragement to ‘try’ smoking from other individuals.
Smoking is an important public health issue, mainly due to the number of diseases and health issues that are caused by it. By 2019, about 14.1% of individuals who were aged over 18 smoked cigarettes, which come to about 6.9 million people. This is seen to have decreased from 14.7% in 2018 to 14.1% in 2019 (Office for National Statistics, 2020). However, these statistics take into account individuals that smoke and do not assess the impact that these 6.9 million smokers have or could have on other potential non-smokers through second-hand smoke. Due to the addictive nature of smoking, it becomes difficult, even with strict policies, to completely prevent individuals from smoking. Even with a complete ban on smoking, it is not completely certain that smoking can be completely stopped.
The age group that is seen to have the greatest number of smokers is seen to be around the ages of 25-34 with 19% smokers and the lowest is seen to be those over 65, with a 7.8% of smokers belonging in that group (Statista, 2020). With these statistics, it can be said that individuals in the 25-34 age group is the most impacted by smoking, however, when the factor of second-hand smoke is considered, there may be more individuals who are affected. With this in mind, the most vulnerable individuals to be impacted by smoking would be the elderly with weaker immune systems, immunocompromised individuals, individuals with history of respiratory issues and pregnant women.
Smoking causes an array of diseases and health issues, including disabilities and harms almost every organ in the human body. It causes multiple variants of cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), chronic bronchitis, among others (Jha and Peto, 2014).
Health in All Policies
‘Health in All Policies’ (HiAP) is a collaborative approach towards healthcare that utilizes important principles of healthcare and utilizes them across sectors as an effort to improve the overall healthcare of the population. Essentially, the creation of HiAP shows the realization that good health is maintained through a wide range of factors that are not only related to healthcare services and is often beyond the scope of public health activities (WHO, 2014). It is the process of systematically evaluating health implications of decisions that are made across sectors, identifies synergies and avoids any adverse health effects to improve the overall population health and health equity.
In order to maintain healthcare in the population, a wider variety of factors must be taken into consideration. This is where HiAP can play a significant role towards the policy process, as HiAP policy brings various factors from various sectors into perspective, which then gets assessed and the appropriate policies are created and implemented (Leppo et al., 2013)
Discussion
History of No Smoking Policy UK
The no smoking policy was initially passed in 2006, where smoking was banned in workplaces, public transport, pubs, restaurants, cafes, and other public areas in England and Wales. Following this, it was enforced in Scotland on the 26th of March 2006, April 2nd in Wales, 30th April in Northern Ireland and July 1st 2007 in England and rest of the UK. Even though the percentage of smokers has drastically released from the 1950s and 1960s, it was still considerably high throughout the UK (Politics.co.uk, 2016).
As health and well-being of individuals became a more alarming concern for governments, policies were analysed and evaluated in order to find one that would be able to appropriately lower the percentages of individuals smoking and to decrease the number of individuals who breathe second-hand smoke. Following the introduction of the policy, there were many other interventions that occurred after the no smoking policy took effect in 2006 and 2007 in the later years.
Influence and Impact of the Policy
The policy had a considerable effect on various aspects, which include social, cultural, economic and on the general environment. The policy has changed social and cultural norms, from rewarding smokers in the past with social status and esteem to contempt and social isolation (Connolly, 2012).
Smoking has provided a few benefits to the economy of countries, as the economic activities generated from production and consumption of tobacco generates a significant amount of income. However, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an estimated US$1 trillion and increasing, is spent every year globally in economic damages. Further, an estimated £8.4 billion is lost each year as a result of direct costs due to smoking and lost productivity due to smoking from England alone. With the no smoking policies reducing the percentage of smokers, this amount has decreased considerably as there are lesser individuals suffering from the adverse consequences of smoking (Ekpu and Brown, 2015).
When it comes to the environment, air pollution from cigarettes is extremely unhealthy and should not be inhaled by individuals. After the no smoking policy was enforced, the pollution from bars in UK were seen to have reduced by as much as 93%, which is a massive decrease (British Heart Foundation, 2017).
It can be said that these effects of the no smoking policy mainly occurred due to the nature of smoking itself, and how the population started perceiving the importance of health and well-being.
Political Aims and Objectives
The general political aims and objectives for the no smoking policy were essentially to reduce the number of smokers in the UK, which in turn, reduces the number of individuals affected by second-hand smoke. By doing so, a healthier environment can be created where individuals ar...