Shops will not be allowed to display tobacco from April 6 2012 as new legislation cracks down on cigarettes, although smaller stores will not have to follow the new regulations until 2015.
The government also pledged to keep an 'open mind' over plain packaging for cigarettes and other tobacco products and will undergo a process of consultation before the year is out, the Department of Health said.
Ministers are hoping to see a drop in the percentage of adults smoking to 18.5% or less by the end of 2015, compared to current levels of 21.2%. It would mean there would be 210,000 fewer adult smokers a year.
They are also targeting a drop in smoking rates among 15-year-olds from 15% to 12%, and in pregnancy from 14% to 11%.
The document Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England was released to coincide with national No Smoking Day today.
The impact of the advertising and promotion of smoking accessories on smoking rates will also be looked at.
The document said that despite the total ban on tobacco advertising in 2002 'the tobacco industry continues to find ways of promoting tobacco products, for example through packaging, point of sale displays and through entertainment media, including the internet'.
Ministers also intend to approach the entertainment industry and media regulators to assess the portrayal of smoking, as well as considering whether the internet is being used to market tobacco to young Britons.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: 'Smoking is undeniably one of the biggest and most stubborn challenges in public health.'
Miranda Watson, head of communications at the British Lung Foundation, said: 'Putting tobacco out of sight in shops will go a long way to ensuring that young people are not tempted to start smoking in the first place.'
But the Association of Convenience Stores said the new regulations would impose £40 million of costs on small retailers in the absence of evidence to suggest the measures would work.
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