Local authorities are ignoring warnings about the dangers of skin cancer, with three-quarters failing to devise prevention policies and 60% continuing to offer tanning facilities in leisure centres, according to a survey of councils.

UK environmental health officers will this week call for a more vigorous response, amid revelations that councils are failing to protect their staff and the public.

More than a third of local authorities contacted in a survey have decided to keep their sunbeds because they provide income and are popular with the public. They also claim to have insufficient information to justify banning them.

Most of those survyed had neither a skin cancer prevention policy in place nor a plan to produce one.

However the survey discovered that 75 local authorities have responded to health fears and removed sunbeds from their premises.

Skin cancer is almost entirely preventable, but is becoming more prevalent.

There are 65,000 new cases diagnosed a year - double the figure of the early 1980s. It is estimated that 2,000 people die from skin cancer each year.

Delegates at a Chartered Institute of Environmental Health conference will launch a prevention kit to make councils more aware of the dangers and what they can do.

Jenny Morris, policy officer, said: "We are disappointed many authorities are not fulfilling their duty of care by incorporating skin cancer prevention policies into their programmes."

The Sunbed Association has argued that sunbeds are safe if used responsibly, and claims there is no evidence to support the sort of ban environmental health officers want.