Data is not forthcomingA Scottish health charity is calling for the Scottish Government and NHS health boards for increased transparency regarding funding being invested in smoking cessation services. There is a slight improvement in the number of successful 12-week quits (5,352 up from 5,201) in the most deprived areas. The charity is raising concern that the Scottish Government has not provided details of its annual funding to health boards for smoking cessation services in 2025/26. The last publicly available figure regarding government annual funding to NHS health boards to deliver smoking cessation services was the £7,852,085 invested in 2021/22, a significant reduction from the £9,110,000 allocated in 2016/17. Sheila Duffy, chief executive of ASH Scotland, said: “With tobacco continuing to be the biggest preventable killer in Scotland causing nearly 9,000 premature deaths each year, we welcome the latest figures showing a rise in the number of quit smoking attempts supported by NHS Scotland’s smoking cessation services in our most deprived communities.