ESSEX County Council has unveiled two new resources designed to help parents and carers, schools and those working with young people address the growing issue of youth vaping. 

Developed with input from education settings and parents, the toolkits aim to reduce usage and prevent uptake of vaping among young people.

They each provide practical guidance, facts, and conversation starters to support informed discussions about vaping and its risks.

There are two toolkits designed for specific audiences. These are:

• Youth vaping toolkit for education settings – developed by Essex Public Health and Essex Safeguarding Children Board and co-designed with secondary education settings
• Youth vaping toolkit for parents and carers – developed in response to insight from parents and carers by HCRG’s Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service

Both toolkits highlight the dangers of nicotine addiction, and the health risks associated with vaping. They also signpost to support services offering free help for young people who want to quit.

According to the latest statistics from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), around 20% of 11 to 17-year-olds in the UK, an estimated 1.1 million, have tried vaping. Of these, around 400,000, or 7%, are estimated to vape, with 40% of these vaping daily. 

Councillor John Spence, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Adult Social Care, Public Health and Integration, said: “While vaping is great for those using it as a step down from smoking tobacco, it is the opposite for young people who can so easily become addicted for the first time.  

“As a grandfather myself, I am appalled by what they tell me about the amount of usage and the ease of access. We need to do everything we can to help all those engaged halt and reverse current trends.”

The toolkits are available now on the Essex Safeguarding Children Board website: https://www.escb.co.uk/safeguarding-topics/youth-vaping/.  

Alongside the council’s prevention work, Essex Trading Standards also works alongside various agencies to tackle the issue of underage vape sales. 

Trading Standards regularly runs underage test purchasing operations, following up on intelligence received from members of the public.

Businesses who break the law and sell vapes to under 18s can be prosecuted and face significant fines of thousands of pounds.  

Councillor Mark Durham, Cabinet Member responsible for Essex Trading Standards, said: “Sellers of age-restricted goods, including vapes, must ensure they are vigilant and always ask to see proof of age before making a sale to a young person. 

“We take this issue extremely seriously and will not hesitate to prosecute businesses who break the law in Essex.”
 
To report concerns about underage vape sales, call the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133 or visit https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/.

Essex County Council is currently gathering views about youth vaping. The council is running an anonymous survey which is open to parents and carers of young people aged nine to 14-years-old. 

It takes no longer than 10 minutes to complete. Take part before Sunday 14 December at: https://research.potentia-insight.co.uk/survey/selfserve/53b/251117#.