Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
The increase in tobacco duty reflects a wider plan by the Government to phase out smoking in the UK. A similar policy to effectively outlaw smoking for future generations was brought in by New Zealand in 2023 and will eventually mean tobacco cannot be sold to anyone born on or after 1 January, 2009.
The country’s approach also includes wider measures to make smoking less affordable, including reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products and forcing them to be sold only through speciality tobacco stores. The total of children looked after stood at 83,840 at the end of March 2023, or about one child in every 140. There is no arbitrary number we can place on the number of children who should be in care. Every child who cannot live safely at home needs a loving, caring alternative. He was speaking at a news conference at the Israeli embassy in London, where some of the hostages’ families pleaded for their release. Under the scheme, Mr Sunak plans to ban future generations from smoking by steadily increasing the legal age at which they can buy cigarettes. So, as well as confirming our Brexit pubs guarantee, which means the duty on a pint is always lower than in the shops, I’ve decided to freeze all alcohol duty until 1 August next year. That means no increase in duty on beer, cider, wine or spirits.”
On Monday, families in London echoed calls the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has faced from families to bring the hostages home. Negotiations for their release are under way, possibly in return for a limited ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. What is essential is that all children who become looked after get the love and care they need, as a child, as they grow into adults. At a basic level this means having enough of the right kind of placements. Research by my office last year found, for example, that 20,000 children are separated from their siblings when they come into care, due to insufficient provision. Indeed, as my work has recently shown, sometimes children who should be coming into care are not, and are missing out on the legal protections it provides. My office’s recent report on homeless 16 and 17 year olds found that 61% of homeless 16- and 17-year-olds accommodated by local authorities are not coming into care as they should be. Firstly, there needs to be a relentless focus on intervening earlier and better to support children to stay with their families. To get this right will need, among other things, a robust way to measure and understand if things are working. For example, at the moment it is not possible to tell at the national level if the outcomes of the 101,100 children on child in need plans are improving. She added: “Many people want to live together, but we cannot, we cannot make peace with somebody that hates us, that wants to kill us and not just to kill but to slaughter, to be so cruel to innocent people.”
Speaking to RTÉ , external earlier this month, Emily's family said the Israeli Defense Forces now believed there was a "high possibility" she was among the people being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. I have previously set out how the Department could improve its own outcomes framework for children’s social care here and how it needs to have a relentless focus on helping areas to improve.He said that the legal smoking age would be increased by one year every year so that a 14-year-old alive today would never be able to buy a cigarette.
Iris Haim, left, mother of hostage Yotam Haim, and Orit Meir, mother of hostage Almog Meir, both taken after the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas militants, attend a news conference at the Israel Embassy in London. Photograph: Kin Cheung/APEven when these children do come into care, 16 and 17 year olds can be placed in settings which do not legally provide care, just support. I urgently want to see universal standards in place, so that children can receive care wherever they live. When these children are taken into care, the accommodation they are placed in can be inappropriate and dangerous. I’ve listened closely to the persuasive arguments on alcohol duties from the Scotch whisky industry.
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