Councillor Gillian Ford, Cabinet Member for Adults and Wellbeing, said:
“We welcome the Government’s announcement of the Tobacco and Vape Bill in order to protect our future generations from smoking.
“Havering has developed its own long-term strategy to tackle smoking with the aim of reducing youth smoking and vaping by 2029 and has established more local stop smoking services to support people wanting to quit.
“Our research shows that 480 young people in Havering start smoking each year, and 12 percent of Havering pupils have experimented with vaping according to recent Youth Wellbeing Census.
“We therefore support plans to extend the protection from second-hand smoke to specific outdoor places where vulnerable people, such as children and people with existing health problems, are more likely to be exposed.
“We also support controls on the advertising and sales of vapes so that they remain an aid to quitting but don’t tempt children to take up a habit that it likely to have risks in the long term.
“We will be consulting on Havering’s strategy and look forward to the government’s plans to phase-out the sale of tobacco products to anyone aged 15 or younger becoming law.”