Objective: To explore expert views on the potential value, and approaches to establishing and administering a tobacco control fund in the UK.
Design: Semistructured interviews and follow-up discussion groups.
Subjects: Twenty-four UK and international experts on tobacco control regulation, public health, economics or law from the academic, public, private and third sector.
Methods: Participants considered the relative merit of (1) general excise tax on retail tobacco sales; (2) ring-fenced hypothecation of excise taxes on retail tobacco sales; and (3) a direct levy on tobacco manufacturers. Preliminary synthesis of interview findings was deliberated on in two follow-up discussion groups to identify key considerations for policy design.
Result: Most experts agreed that a ring-fenced tobacco control fund would be a valuable method of raising predictable and reliable funds from tobacco producers either using either companies' sales volume or market share as a way to establish the proportion they should pay. Experts predominantly recommended that a fund in the UK should be administered by a government body with devolved nation input and with an independent advisory group. They typically indicated that funding should be allocated yearly with a distribution at local, regional and national levels to support smoking prevention and cessation rather than treatment activities with priority given to measures that tackle smoking-related inequalities.
Conclusion: There was overwhelming agreement by experts on the need to establish a tobacco control fund to help meet the proposed government tobacco-free targets to reduce adult smoking prevalence to 5% by 2030 (England) and 2034 (Scotland).
Keywords: Health policy; PUBLIC HEALTH; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH.
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.