Who took part and next steps
The survey asked participants to provide additional information about themselves. This included:
- district or area participants were from
- whether they consider themselves to have a disability,
- their age and
- ethnicity
Those questions were voluntary, and the results help us check if we are reaching a representative section of society.
Breakdown by age
Most respondents were 65 or over 198 (41%) followed by 179 (37%) respondents aged 45 to 64. There were 49 (10%) respondents aged 25 to 44, seven respondents (1%) aged 16 to 24 and one respondent (0.2%) 15 or under.
Breakdown by local council area
The highest number of responses came from East Lindsey 100 (21%), followed by North Kesteven 78 (16%) and City of Lincoln 68 (14%). The fewest came from Boston Borough 24 (5%) and South Holland 30 (6%), which reflects the usual trend.
Disability
103 people identified as having a disability which is 22% of all respondents. The disability rate for Lincolnshire is 27.6%.
Ethnicity
424 (89%) respondents identified as being from a White background. Three respondents (1%) identified as being from a Mixed ethnic background. Two respondents (0.4%) identified as being from Other ethnic group. One respondent (0.2%) identified as being from Asian background and one (0.2%) as being from Black background.
Next steps
We ask the questions so we can reflect and act on the feedback we receive. We have shared the results with Lincolnshire Trading Standards and the Lincolnshire Tobacco Control Board who identified the following actions that partner organisations will take:
- Encourage more smokers to swap smoking for vaping:
Raise awareness of the offer of free reusable vapes as part of the nicotine replacement therapy offered by One You Lincolnshire on the smoke-free pathway. - Reinforce the message that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking cigarettes:
The Board felt that, despite smokers and vapers generally knowing that vaping is less harmful than smoking, non-smokers who believe it is more harmful may discourage friends or relatives from swapping to vaping. The health benefits of vaping when compared to smoking needs to be woven into communications about smoking across the board, including Non-Smoking Day and Stoptober. - Increase the number of vapes that are correctly recycled:
All batteries and electrical items have the potential to cause a fire if they are disposed of incorrectly. Due to the popularity of disposable vapes, it is felt the risk of these causing a fire in a waste vehicle or at a recycling centre is heightened.
Waste services is working with Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue to create a video and associated comms to demonstrate the potential vapes have for causing a fire if they are disposed of incorrectly. Each Household Waste Recycling Centre will have an individual container on site for residents to dispose of used vapes and this will be promoted.
Refillable vapes given by One You Lincolnshire to smokers now have come with a card advising users of the correct disposal techniques, and One You will email recipients with further advice for how to dispose of these correctly in Lincolnshire.