Written question asked by David Drew (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 April 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 5 May 2004. It was answered by Melanie Johnson (Labour) on Wednesday, 5 May 2004 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress is being made in encouraging smoking cessation; and how much was allocated to each health trust for such services in the last year for which figures are available. - Inc figures and ref to Health Service Circular 2002-012, copy in Library (Dep 04/952).

Answer: Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made in encouraging smoking cessation; and how much was allocated to each health trust for such services in the last year for which figures are available. [167858] Miss Melanie Johnson: We are making good progress in helping smokers to stop smoking. Latest figures show that, between April and September 2003, around 129,800 people set a quit date through the national health service stop smoking services, and over 68,600, or 53 per cent., had remained quit at four week follow up. Health service circular 2002-012, issued on 18 December 2002, set out the financial allocation to NHS stop smoking services in primary care trusts for 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06. A copy of the circular has been placed in the Library.

Secondary information