Nearly 80,000 people gave up smoking between April and
December last year, according to latest figures from the Government.
A total of 153,000 people had set a date to quit and, at the
four-week follow-up about 79,100 of those had successfully quit, the Department
of Health reported.
Of those setting a quit date, most (80 per cent) were aged
18 to 59, with 1 per cent under 18 and 19 per cent aged over 60.
The majority received nicotine replacement therapy or the
anti-smoking drug Zyban. The cost of the smoking cessation services in this
period was £16.7m.
Public Health Minister Yvette Cooper said: "Seventy per
cent of smokers say they want to give up. This Government is the first ever to
provide comprehensive support for smokers who want to quit.
"These figures show that this is already starting to
pay off both for the thousands of smokers who want help in quitting and for the
NHS."
Smoking cessation services were launched by the Government
within health action zones in 1999.
The Government is committed to spending more than £53m on
such services up to this year.
And in April it emerged the Department of Health had pledged
its support for an MP’s bill that will ban tobacco advertising. It is expected to pass on to the statute
book this summer.
