Questions for Public Health England concerning Stoptober 2016
Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 15:05 Last year, without prompting or prevarication, Public Health England reported that over 215,000 smokers had signed up to Stoptober 2015.
The announcement was made on October 30, 2015, and was posted on the UK government website.
What it failed to mention was that the number was 15 per cent fewer than 2014 or that PHE, a quango funded by taxpayers' money, paid four comedians including Al Murray and Bill Bailey a total of £195,000 to promote the campaign.
The latter wasn't revealed until February 2016 when the Mail on Sunday blew the whistle.
Meanwhile we await comparable figures for Stoptober 2016.
Given the alleged cuts to Stoptober's budget, it will be particularly interesting to know how much PHE paid Phil Tufnell, Craig Revel Horwood, Chris Kamara and Natasha Hamilton to promote this year's campaign.
This afternoon Forest will invite PHE to provide answers to these questions.
Don't hold your breath but watch this space.
Update: 'Thank you for your email. Your enquiry will be forwarded to a relevant press officer or to the public enquiries team, who will respond as soon as possible.'
Reader Comments (1)
It would be surprising if they actually provide a substantive answer; after all the tobacco control faction of the public health community seems to avoid transparency lest someone uncover their corruption.