Children starting secondary school as vape addicts

Children are starting secondary school already addicted to vaping, a Welsh government minister has said.

Health Minister Sarah Murphy said it was "really important" there was support for children and young people addicted to vaping when the ban on single-use vapes becomes law.

Murphy was giving evidence to the Senedd's health committee about the legislation imposing the ban, which comes in on 1 June.

She said "teachers are saying children are coming to secondary school from primary school addicted to vaping" and some children "are having to leave lessons two or three times to vape".

"They can't sit through their mock exams," she said.

Murphy said the bill would "tackle prevention but we know that this is already a problem in schools".

She said there is a role for the government and the agency Public Health Wales to play in supporting young people who are addicted to nicotine, but said she was "aware" teachers were against exclusion policies for pupils caught vaping.

"In terms of the support it's about working with the cabinet secretary for education and with Public Health Wales so they aren't being excluded first and foremost and they are receiving that support," she said.

Last year a Public Health Wales report into vaping said it should be seen as a "dependency issue, not a pupil misconduct issue".

"Unfortunately we are seeing that some local authorities have a policy that if you get caught vaping then you get excluded," Murphy said.

"This is something that teachers are very against and would prefer us to come at this from a different angle and work together to ensure that isn't happening at all. "It's something I'm very aware of."