Public Health Wales has produced helpful guidance on vaping to help parents, carers, teachers and others working with secondary-aged children in Wales.
‘Young People and Vaping - Information for parents and carers‘ is for parents and carers to help them get a clear and evidence-based understanding of vaping amongst children and young people in Wales. The guidance includes up-to-date information on the health impacts of vaping and how many children and young people are currently vaping in Wales, as well as practical advice on how to spot the potential signs of vaping, and how to approach a conversation about it.
‘Information and Guidance on Vaping for Secondary-aged learners in Wales’ is for teachers and those who work with secondary-aged learners, providing data and evidence-based information on vaping. This resource helps schools address vaping within their settings through policies, practices, and curriculum content.
Together, these resources will help parents, teachers and others working with children and young people to have honest, fact-based and supportive conversations about vaping that address the issues that matter.
Most children and young people don’t vape. However, studies including The School Health Research Network (SHRN) Student Health and Wellbeing Survey have shown that the use of vapes among children and young people in Wales has been on the rise in recent years.
Almost one-in-six year 11 students in Wales (15.9 per cent) are regularly using vapes, according to data published recently by Public Health Wales and The School Health Research Network and over 45 per cent of students in year 11 say they have tried a vape.
While switching to vapes from smoking has a range of health benefits for smokers there is no benefit of vaping for non-smokers, particularly children and young people. For this reason, it is already illegal to sell vapes to people under 18 years of age.
Evidence regarding the health effects resulting from the use of vaping devices is very limited. However, vaping does put young people at risk of nicotine addiction, a dependency that impacts their education, behaviour and their daily life.
The impact of this dependency is being seen by schools who are also reporting increasing problems with vape use and problem behaviours as a result. Headteachers have reported that vape use has become a growing issue over the last two years leading to them having to monitor specific areas of their site for vaping (for example toilets). School leaders also reported an increase in school exclusions relating to vaping in the past academic year.
We are interested in capturing your feedback on the guidance document. Please complete and submit this online form to register your feedback.