Is ASH getting jittery about its next handout from the public purse?
For the best part of a decade this taxpayer-funded lobby group has received over £1.5 million of our hard-earned cash.
That may be small beer compared to ASH Scotland which has swallowed upwards of £800,000 a year from the taxpayer during the same period, but it's nevertheless a substantial part of ASH's annual income.
The money has been awarded by the Department of Health with the express purpose of supporting the tobacco control plans of successive governments.
Technically ASH is not permitted to use the money to lobby government but given its record as a political pressure group that has consistently lobbied parliament to introduce a full range of anti-smoking policies, it beggars belief that ministers continue to allow the DH to fund ASH's work, however it may be dressed up.
What may concern ASH is the fact that grants are now subject to a bidding process. This means that ASH could (and hopefully will) face competition for future DH grants.
CEO Deborah Arnott is clearly aware of the threat, hence two questions that were tabled in the House of Lords yesterday by Lord Rennard, a former director and trustee of ASH who is currently vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health which is run by, er, ASH.
The first read:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide funding under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 to support implementation of the Tobacco Control Plan for England published in July.
The second read:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding they provided under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 to support implementation of the Tobacco Control Plan for England published in 2011; and to which organisations.
Interestingly, two related questions were also tabled yesterday by Lord Faulkner of Worcester. Like Rennard, Faulkner is another former ASH trustee and a current vice-chair of the APPG on Smoking and Health.
Faulkner's questions read:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any plans to support implementation of the Tobacco Control Plan for England will contain provisions for future year funding to cover the full length of the Plan from 2017 to 2022.
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the approval process for proposals for a grant for 2017–18 to support implementation of the Tobacco Control Plan under section 64 of the of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 will be completed.
Several things strike me about these ASH-inspired questions but the underlying message seems very clear:
One, where's the money?
Two, we've had handouts before and we expect to be on the list of organisations receiving further remuneration in future.
Three, we want a five-year commitment from government to deliver the dosh every year until 2022 with no further questions asked.
Four, if our proposal for a grant isn't approved soon it will seriously fuck up our budget for 2018.
We await the government’s replies with interest.
PS. One other point. Each year since 2008/09 ASH has received a grant to support the tobacco control plan.
The previous plan ended in 2015 and a new plan was only announced in July this year after persistent lobbying by the likes of ASH.
For two years therefore there was no tobacco control plan, a fact the tobacco control industry complained about bitterly and at length.
Why then did ASH receive a grant of £195,000 to cover a period (2016/17) when there was no plan in place?
What exactly did ASH use that money for and shouldn't the DH ask for it back?