Smoke-free Runnymede Charter

We recognise that smoking remains the number one cause of preventable deaths in Runnymede.

We recognise that most smokers begin to smoke before they become adults, and that many begin before their thirteenth birthdays. The future health of our children depends in part on ensuring that they do not become smokers.

We also recognise that progress to end inequalities and increase the life expectancy of poorer and more vulnerable people in our community depends on action to cut the number of smokers and reduce the harm that smoking causes to them and to others.

We are determined as a member of the Runnymede Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) to:

• reduce smoking prevalence in our area;

• educate and inform local people about the dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke;

• encourage and support smokers who want to give up, and to promote local 'stop smoking' services;

• protect non-smokers from the damaging effects of secondhand smoke by encouraging employers to go smokefree; and

• support our Surrey County Council colleagues to ensure that the laws on advertising and sale of tobacco products to minors are enforced.

We are committed to work together towards becoming a smoke-free borough, and in turn, to work with the Smokefree Surrey Alliance towards becoming a smoke-free county.

As the LSP, we will work closely with our partners in the health service to set clear targets for reducing smoking and to protect the public's health, and we will agree an Action Plan to ensure that these targets are achieved. We will liaise with our County Council colleagues in Trading Standards and Surrey police to tackle the sale of tobacco to minors, counterfeiting and smuggling. We will report annually on the progress we are making to become smoke-free.

We will start by taking action in our own organisation and services owned and run by our organisation to go smoke free. All of our employees who smoke and who wish to quit will have access to professional advice and support through the free local NHS Stop Smoking Service.

Where we have influence through funding and participation in management in public venues, workplaces or enclosed public spaces, we will encourage the provision of smoke-free environments.

We will do all in our power to protect our workforce from the dangers of second-hand smoke, including employees whose work is mainly outside our offices, facilities and in vehicles. We will encourage other employers in our area to go smoke-free.

As a member of the LSP, we will ensure that action on smoking is a core part of the work of relevant strategies and plans within our organisation and that this is regularly reviewed.

Where appropriate, we will ensure that bids for Government and European funding reflect public health priorities and in particular our determination to reduce smoking prevalence.

Protecting and improving the health and safety of local people is one of the key priorities for the Local Runnymede Partnership. We are therefore committed to protecting the Runnymede community from the damaging effects of tobacco.

Signed:

Title:

Organisation, which is a member of Runnymede Local Strategic Partnership: