Purpose

As part of 

the government’s announcement to create a
‘smokefree generation’ additional funding
has been confirmed for local authority led stop smoking services
and support. The funding will be delivered through a new section 31
grant, with West Sussex County Council (WSCC) receiving
approximately £1.075 million for the financial year 2024 to
2025. Additional funding has been confirmed for the subsequent 4
years: 2025 to 2026, through to the financial year 2028 to 2029.
The exact amount will be confirmed each year. This funding will be
ringfenced for WSCC led stop smoking services and
support.   The government has
communicated detailed funding criteria to WSCC through a formal
grant agreement process.
 
To receive the funding, the council must
maintain its existing spend on stop smoking services, based on the
stop smoking service data spend for the year 2022 to 2023 and
ensure this level of funding is maintained throughout the whole
grant period. The council will also need to comply with the
reporting requirements for expenditure related to the stop smoking
service by submitting quarterly reports to NHS England.

Following this decision taken by the Cabinet Member for Public
Health and Wellbeing, the grant agreement is signed by the Director
of Public Health and returned to the Office of Health Improvement
and Disparities (OHID) by the deadline of 24th April 2024 in order
for the 2024/25 grant to be awarded.
 
 

Decision

 
The Cabinet Member for Public Health and
Wellbeing has approved;
 
(1) receipt of Local Stop
Smoking Services and Support grant funding, its terms and
conditions, as set out in section 1 of the report and the
authorisation of the Director of Public Health to sign the letter
of agreement required by the Office for Health Improvement and
Disparities (OHID);
 
(2) the delegation of
authority to the Director of Public Health to allocate funds in
line with government guidance and within the agreed grant criteria;
and
 
(3) that further grant
receipts and these allocations will be reported through the County
Council’s Quarterly Performance and Resources Report.