The UK Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023: A methodological approach.

Abstract

The UK Tobacco Industry Interference Index (UKTI) is part of the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index (GTI). Based on a survey methodology developed by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA), and published by the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC), the GTI is a global survey on how governments respond to tobacco industry interference and to what extent they protect their public health policies from the commercial and vested interests of the tobacco industry, as required under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Since the first GTI in 2019, the UKTI has been compiled by the Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) at the University of Bath. The latest UKTI, the fourth in the series, was published in November 2023. Monitoring, investigating and reporting on industry interference is complex, with large volumes of publicly available information found in multiple locations and formats. These include government sources such as lobbying registers, Hansard reports and registers of interests; tobacco industry sources such as company reports, websites and press releases; and external media including the industry and retail press. TCRG has implemented some innovative methods using a wide range of tools and resources, including open-source intelligence techniques (OSINT) and freedom of information requests (FOIs). These methods are outlined and critically assessed in this article. In doing so, we hope that lessons learned in the UK may be relevant to monitoring of tobacco industry interference elsewhere.