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Smoking in Public Places
A Consultation on Reducing Exposure to Second Hand Smoke
Report of a Youth Consultation
PART 1
HOW WAS THE CONSULTATION CARRIED OUT?
National Level
At national level there was a sustained and extensive programme of promotion and awareness-raising activities during the summer period in the lead up to the main implementation stage of the consultation.
The programme began with a media launch with young people taking part in a 'Questions & Answers' session with Deputy Minister for Health, Tom McCabe MSP. The event was held in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire on 15
th June, hosted by North Ayrshire Council Leader, Councillor Peter McNamara, and also attended by Martin Raymond, Head of Public Affairs for NHS Health Scotland. Young people from North Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway took part in the event, and also got the chance to be the first young people to fill in the online survey through Young Scot's Sp@ce E-Roadshow. At this launch event the Minister also took the time to talk to the young people in depth about their views on smoking in public places. The event received local and national media coverage and offered a great starting point for young people to have their say on the topic.
The launch event was followed by substantial articles in Young Scot magazine, which was distributed with the Daily Record in the first week of July. The magazine has a circulation of over 650,000 copies and an estimated readership of 1.1million. Additional copies of the magazine were distributed to youth groups, as well as being on display in Young Scot discount partner outlets such as McDonald's; Odeon cinemas; KFC and Megabowl, ensuring a wide reach to young people in a variety of settings. Articles were also published on the national youth information portal for Scotland - www.youngscot.org - which currently receives on average over 2m hits each month. These articles included a link to the consultation materials on
Young Scot: Loud + Clear!, and also to the Scottish Executive website.
Various "Vote of the Day" topics related to smoking in public places were run on www.youngscot.org, primarily to introduce young people to the topic and stimulate interest (See Appendix B).
The topic was also posted, along with FAQ's, on to the national Young Scot online discussion board on
Young Scot: Loud + Clear!, with some debate already taking place amongst board members. A survey, which was adapted from the Scottish Executive's response form, was also developed and placed online on the
Young Scot: Loud + Clear! pages. A vote was also run on the
Young Scot: Loud + Clear! pages throughout the consultation. All materials were developed in partnership with NHS Health Scotland.
Local Level
Four local authority Dialogue Youth units ran in-depth consultation exercises with young people aged 12-18 years. The four areas involved in the in-depth consultation were:
Dundee
Highland
North Ayrshire
Dumfries & Galloway
Each area carried out mixed activity, both online and offline, using the Young Scot Loud + Clear Toolkit and methodology. Core materials, for use by all four local projects, were developed by Young Scot at national level in partnership with NHS Health Scotland to ensure consistency in the local activities. These materials included:
A set of 'Frequently Asked Questions'.
A single fact sheet, with some core information about the topic.
A survey questionnaire - for use both online and offline - which was adapted from the response form being used by the Scottish Executive.
A single "Vote!" - this included a question and four option answers.
An outline format for any events held - adapted from Scottish Civic Forum consultation events being carried out across Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Executive, to ensure consistency of approach across all consultation events being held.
Dundee
Dundee Dialogue Youth unit consulted with young people across Dundee using a variety of offline and online methods.
Youth Consultation stalls were held at local festivals during August, generating lots of interest and feedback from young people. These included:
Offline surveys were printed and distributed to young people through a variety of venues and groups, including to 10 secondary schools, 14 libraries, and 25 community centres and youth projects across Dundee. These included:
Youth Work Strategic Group
Youth Information Advisory Group
Youth Information Workers
The Corner (young peoples' health and information project)
Xplore (social inclusion partnership youth project)
Young Carers Partnership
'Email alerts' were sent out to 80 young people who signed up to receive information on the Smoking in Public Places Consultation through the Dundee local pages of the Young Scot website. Responses were collected from young people through the local pages of the website using an online survey, which was identical to the offline questionnaire. Responses were collected through an online vote to a single question "Should smoking in public places be banned?".
A group of six young people also participated in an online discussion forum. This was a short session designed to get anecdotal input and stimulate discussion.
Highland
Firstly, Highland Dialogue Youth unit arranged a meeting with their local Smoking Cessation Officer to put forward ideas about how best to carry out the consultation. It became apparent after discussing the ideas with health staff that had experience of working with young people on smoking issues, that the consultation would focus on the following methods:
Production of a young people friendly leaflet style survey for distribution at youth events, in schools, and to youth groups.
Formulating a workshop to explore issues surrounding the consultation and a proposed ban.
Having a one-day event in Inverness at a shopping centre, handing out the leaflet/ survey for young people to fill in.
It was decided to create a young people's leaflet version of the Scottish Executive's survey to collect young people's views. The questions were adapted to make them more 'young person friendly' and some questions were added. Four front covers were designed and taken into schools and asked pupils for feedback. The most popular design was then put into action by the council's graphics department. The surveys were then sent out to youth workers from each area of Highland and distributed to pupil councils in every Highland secondary school. The leaflet was also handed out at various youth events attended by Dialogue Youth staff. These included:
Youth Forum meetings
Youth Voice events (Sabhal Mor Ostaig in Skye)
Youth Day in Ross and Cromarty
Event at Eastgate shopping Centre, Inverness.
Dialogue Youth staff designed an interactive workshop which initially got young people to explore why the government were having a consultation, then moved on to discuss passive smoking, public places and the effects having a ban or not having a ban might have. The workshop was carried out at a 'Celebration of Youth' event in Ross and Cromarty where young people filled out surveys after the workshop, and also at a Youth Forum AGM where flip charts were used to gather views and get young people to write down ideas.
Offline methods were augmented by an online survey, vote, discussion forum, and email response tool on the Highland local
Young Scot: Loud + Clear! pages of the Young Scot website allowing young people to respond to the consultation.
A display board was designed and printed to advertise and promote the consultation day which was held at Eastgate Shopping Centre in Inverness, to collect responses from young people. Dialogue Youth staff manned the stall on the day and encouraged young people to put forward their opinions and views, and fill in surveys.
North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire Dialogue Youth implemented a variety of online and offline consultation mechanisms in order to carry out the consultation. Activities included:
Young Scot branded postcard surveys and ballot boxes were designed, printed and distributed to seven youth centres and youth information points where young people could anonymously complete the cards and post them in ballot boxes.
Outreach work was undertaken by youth workers and the Ardrossan Young Scot 'Hack Pack' team, which is a group of young web-journalists who write articles for the Young Scot website. This involved the young people taking the postcards out onto the streets to consult with other young people.
The post cards were also used at various events with assistance from young people (Young Scot volunteers). For example, a consultation event was held at the Marymass Festival which was supported by the Young Scot E-Roadshow providing internet access and generating substantial interest amongst young people.
The main focus of the consultation in North Ayrshire involved the use of postcard ballots. In total, over 600 young people voted in the postcard ballot.
The offline activity was augmented by an online survey, vote, discussion forum, and email response tool on the North Ayrshire local
Young Scot: Loud + Clear! pages of the Young Scot portal. These online tools were advertised through posters being distributed to thirty locations including local secondary schools for the start of term in August.
North Ayrshire Dialogue Youth unit have also been invited to facilitate a workshop session at the North Ayrshire Schools Tobacco Project event, being held at Seamill Hydro on 4
th of October.
Meetings were arranged with various organisations relating to smoking and health, including the local Smoking Cessation Officer and the Schools Tobacco Project who were keen to get involved with the consultation and provided leaflets and other resources for use locally.
Dumfries and Galloway
Firstly, the consultation was discussed at the Youth Strategy Executive Meeting to ask members of the group if any of them would be interested in assisting with this piece of work. Those who were interested, but could not commit to regular meetings, still expressed an interest and they were sent ten questionnaires - one to complete themselves and nine for their friends or people in their school to complete and return.
Dumfries and Galloway Dialogue Youth decided a quick and easy way to gather the views of young people would be to have a postcard response. The prompt, "Smoking In Public Places……" was placed on postcards to distribute to young people at schools and events across the region to encourage them to give their views.
It was decided that other ways to engage young people would be to hold events with a fun day/healthy living type appeal. It was agreed to hold one in Dumfries and one in Stranraer, targeting the two big towns across the region. These fun days included various activities for young people to participate in, such as inflatables, salsa dancing, and equipment to test people's overall fitness levels. There was also a 'dry bar', with smoking related names for the drinks served.
It was decided, to keep in line with the consultation, that young people would fill out a postcard to get into the event, which was free, and also to hold focus groups with questionnaires at the event, for young people to fill out both online and offline.
It was negotiated with four schools across the region to hold focus groups with young people ranging from 12 - 16 years old. The focus groups were facilitated by a worker from the Youth Issues Unit and the Smoking Cessation Officer for Dumfries and Galloway. There were questionnaires for young people to fill out and then a discussion was held on what their views were on smoking in public places. A vote was also taken at the start of the group to ask young people whether they thought there should be a ban, and then after the discussion another vote was taken to see if anyone had changed their mind. It was also arranged to hold focus groups in two local community groups in Moffat and Newton Stewart, two small towns at opposite ends of the region.
It was recognised that there was a need to look at ways of targeting the upper end of the age range. Dumfries and Galloway College was used to get postcards and questionnaires completed and to hold mini focus groups on the consultation topic.
Dialogue Youth staff also travelled across the region to speak with young people. They visited skate parks, local youth groups, summer events, pubs, cafes and the local Youth Enquiry Service. They were also able to negotiate with staff to distribute postcards in schools who were not running focus groups.
Dumfries and Galloway Dialogue Youth recorded video footage from various events and visits and are currently putting together a video of young people speaking about the consultation. The material is currently being edited, and will be available in the near future.
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