Evaluating the long term impact of Scotland’s Tobacco and Vaping Retail Register
Report
Evaluating the long term impact of Scotland’s Tobacco and Vaping Retail Register - Literature Review
A review of the policy and literature context of tobacco retail licensing in the UK and Ireland.
Read the Literature Review here
About the study
This literature review outlines the policy and literature context of tobacco retail licensing in the UK and Ireland, considering evidence from the implementation of retail registration and licensing schemes around the world.
The Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) was commissioned by Cancer Research UK to review the existing literature on the effectiveness of the Scottish Tobacco Retail Register (STRR) as part of a wider study to evaluate the STRR and identify transferable policy lessons for a potential registration and/or licensing scheme in England and the rest of the UK.
Findings
The review included literature on the effectiveness of retail registers and evaluated evidence on the implementation of alternative approaches to tobacco retail control, using examples from around the world. This included various types of fee-paying licensing schemes or the addition of conditions to existing registration schemes to further address tobacco regulation and enforcement.
The evidence showed that both registration and licensing schemes can be effective in reducing tobacco retailer density. Reductions in tobacco retailer density are associated with decreased smoking prevalence. Although direct evidence on registration schemes was limited, registration schemes were found to be important for overseeing tobacco retailers and ensuring compliance with tobacco control policy and regulations.
The addition of conditions to existing registration schemes was discussed in the literature but there was no evidence on their effectiveness as these measures have not yet been adopted.
Licensing schemes were discussed throughout the literature and were shown to significantly reduce tobacco retailer density in countries such as the USA, Australia, and Hungary. It has been proposed that licensing schemes also provide greater leverage and financial support for enforcement of tobacco control policies.
Methodology
The literature review included publications in academic journals, grey literature, and research undertaken by specialist organisations. Key search terms and combinations of search terms were used on a number of databases, in combination with purposive searches of grey literature. Literature from before 2017 was excluded. The initial search identified 165 items as potentially relevant, which were consolidated to 35 items for full review.
