'Rising problem' of Calderdale children using e-cigarettes and vaping - even at primary school age

Worried councillors raised the issue while debating responses provided by children themselves in a voluntary and anonymous annual electronic survey.

Teachers have also told councillors they are concerned it is a rising problem, a meeting heard..

Issues with nitrous oxide use among youngsters were also raised.

Coun Danielle Durrans (Lab Ovenden) said a headteacher told her they were “extremely concerned” about the number of children vaping, even at primary age.

Flavours were very much targeted at children, said Coun Durrans, with a lot of unregulated sales, particularly of illegal vapes that have been taken off the market but were now being sold in some corner shops.

Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Board members heard cigarette smoking was more harmful but was no longer seen as “cool” by schoolchildren.

But vapes were posing another health risk to them, said Coun Durrans.

“What are we doing to target that?

“Because these are the ones that we know they won’t pick a cigarette packet up but they can easily buy cheap vapes at 20 per cent nicotine – that’s going to have a massive impact on our children’s bodies,” she said.

Coun Felicity Issott (Con, Ryburn) said she recognised it was also a national issue but asked: “Is there something we can do with schools, to support promotion of the negatives of it, and the dangers of it, especially as we are seeing in the news more frequently that vapes are getting spiked with illegal drugs such as ketamine as well?

“It is a rapidly escalating problem,” she said.

Coun Durrans also said recently community partners had also raised issues about children using nitrous oxide.

Scrutiny officer Mike Lodge said Coun Christine Prashad (Lib Dem, Greetland and Stainland) was doing some work on the issue for another council board.

In the survey there was a total of 4,445 pupil respondents from 72 schools at primary level and 4,377 from 13 schools at secondary level, together covering years 5, 6, 7 and 10 in 2022.

At primary level, five per cent had smoked a cigarette or e-cigarette, with 84 per cent of the five per cent having smoked e-cigarettes and 12 per cent of the five per cent smoking an e-cigarette at least once a week.

At secondary level, 23 per cent had smoked a cigarette or e-cigarette, with 65 per cent of the 23 per cent having smoked e-cigarettes and 40 per cent of the 23 per cent doing smoking an e-cigarette at least once a week.

Public Health manager for Children and Young People, Naomi Marquis, said her team had done more digging, a breakdown showing one per cent of primary age children saying they vaped at least once a week and nine per cent of secondary age children – in all, 15 per cent said they had ever vaped.

Numbers were relatively small compared to other health risk behaviours Public Health responded to proactively, but the concern was recognised and material shared with schools to combat it.

More work could be done with trading standards to make materials harder for children to obtain and they also needed to talk to children about what messaging was most effective.

“We’ve heard from local schools that young people are able to walk out of school and into the local shop and purchase vapes quite openly,” she said.