A new pilot programme to tackle underage vaping has been unveiled in Kent, ahead of a national roll-out in 2025.
The Local Vape Action (LVA) pilot has launched in Tunbridge Wells, that will bring together Kent Trading Standards, Kent Police, Kent community safety and public health as well as the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) with a focus on cutting out illegal underage vape sales.
The three-month pilot will deliver a series of activities and interventions, including engagement with all retailers of vapes in Tunbridge Wells, and the wider community to tackle underage access of vapes, before a planned national roll-out in 2025.
As part of the project, retailers will receive visits from trading standards to check that they are meeting their statutory obligations, utilising targeted guidance, which includes age-verification policies, in-store signage and retailer awareness of compliant vape products. This will be followed by subsequent visits as appropriate. Further interventions are planned throughout the campaign.
The national LVA that is planned for 2025 will look to identify local needs, facilitate the assembly of the local LVA partnership, offer start-up funding and expert advice, provides a toolkit of interventions, share best practice gathered across the national LVA network and supply a rigorous evaluation system.
Planned actions from the pilot include:
- Engagement across relevant stakeholders to develop an aligned approach including trading standards, police, retail representatives, public health, and local authorities
- Responsible retailing: including a focus on Challenge 25 and promoting it across the community alongside awareness of existing and new regulations, including compliance with waste management regulations
- Education: to educate and inform target groups.
Future work may also include working with local public health stakeholders to educate adult smokers, making sure they understand that vaping is very much safer than smoking, and encouraging them to switch completely to vaping as soon as they can
While the findings from the pilot will be subject to a full evaluation and inform the development of the national LVA, other areas have already expressed interest in rolling out similar partnerships.
Commenting on the LVA, IBVTA CEO Gillian Golden said: “The launch of the Local Vape Action (LVA) pilot in Tunbridge Wells provides an excellent opportunity to bring collective knowledge and expertise together to deliver on a comprehensive programme of action to tackle the well-documented issues that undermine a responsible vape sector. We are therefore delighted to be working with partners from across Kent in delivering this first pilot project and take those learnings forward into the development of the national LVA.”
KCC Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, Clair Bell,added: “Kent Trading Standards has been aware of the growing popularity of disposable vapes and has been working with Kent Public Health to reduce the risk of sales to children in the county and to remove illegal and non-compliant product from our high streets. We welcome the opportunity to work alongside responsible retailers and the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) with the introduction of the pilot project ‘Local Vape Action’ in Tunbridge Wells. The LVA project will allow all partners in the sector to come together to increase awareness of legal products and who to sell them to.
“This is a positive additional step to the work we are already doing and will contribute to raising compliance and creating a level playing field. From the work conducted by our Vape Team, we are aware that disposable vapes are sold in a very diverse range of retail premises. This means that for some retailers a disposable vape is the first age related product that they have stocked, this can lead to confusion and mistakes being made. Disposable vapes have also changed dramatically in the last 12 months; it is not as simple as it once was to spot a legal device.
“The LVA project will enable a complementary approach, combining the trade and regulators to focus on providing a more robust support network to the retail sector, reducing the confusion around products that can be sold, and strengthen the safeguards to ensure children are not sold any device.”
Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin for also offered his support for the scheme. “Bringing together regulators and local authorities, to address this issue head-on, is crucial to ensure retailers are operating responsibly and meeting their legal obligations. It represents a vital step in protecting our young people and fostering a safer, healthier environment for all residents of Tunbridge Wells. I look forward to seeing the positive impact this pilot will have and hope it sets the standard for similar projects across the country.”
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