Consultation on Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products

Monday 16th April 2012 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

The Government have today published a consultation on the standardised packaging of tobacco products. The consultation is being undertaken, with the agreement of the devolved Administrations, on a UK-wide basis.

In March 2011, the Government published “Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England” which set out how our comprehensive, evidence-based programme of tobacco control will be delivered, within the context of the new public health system, over the next five years. The tobacco control plan included a commitment to consult on options to reduce the promotional impact of tobacco packaging, including standardised packaging.

Smoking remains one of the most significant challenges to public health across the United Kingdom and is the primary cause of preventable death, accounting each year for over 100,000 deaths in the United Kingdom. One in two long-term smokers will die prematurely from a smoking disease. Smoking harms those around smokers too. The Royal College of Physicians estimate that about 2 million children currently live in a household where they are exposed to cigarette smoke.

Treating smoking diseases is costly. In England, around 5% of all hospital admissions among adults aged 35 and over are attributable to smoking.

Reducing the uptake of smoking by children and young people is a key public health goal. Most smokers take up smoking regularly before they turn 18 years old. In England alone, an estimated 330,000 young people under the age of 16 try smoking for the first time each year.

Most smokers say they want to quit. Quitting smoking can be difficult, but smokers who quit for good can quickly reduce their risk of smoking diseases and live longer, whatever their age.

The United Kingdom is recognised across the world for having comprehensive, evidence-based tobacco control policies. But we need to do more to stop young people taking up smoking and to help those smokers who want to quit.

Health and well-being in our communities would be significantly improved in the long term if smoking rates were substantially reduced. Between 2007 and 2010, the rates of smoking in England remained static. While smoking rates have more recently started to decline again, we need to secure significant further reductions if we are to meet the national ambitions we set out in “Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England”.

Standardised packaging for tobacco refers to measures that may be taken to restrict or prohibit the use of logos, colours, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than brand names and product names that are displayed in a standard colour and font style. Standardised packaging is sometimes referred to as “plain packaging”.

The Government have an open mind at this stage about introducing standardised packaging. Through the consultation, we want to understand whether there is evidence to demonstrate that the standardised packaging of tobacco products would have an additional public health benefit, over and above existing tobacco control initiatives. The consultation asks whether standardised packaging could improve public health by:

reducing the appeal of tobacco products to consumers;

increasing the effectiveness of health warnings on the packaging of tobacco products;

reducing the ability of tobacco packaging to mislead consumers about the harmful effects of smoking; and

having a positive effect on smoking-related attitudes, beliefs, intentions and behaviours, particularly among children and young people.

Through the consultation, we are also interested in exploring whether there might be other implications if standardised packaging requirements were introduced, including any potential effect on the illicit tobacco market.



The consultation will be open for responses from 16 April to 10 July 2012. Any person, business or organisation with an interest is encouraged to respond.

Consultation on the standardised packaging of tobacco products has been placed in the Library. Copies are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office and noble Lords from the Printed Paper Office .The consultation document is available from and consultation responses can be submitted online at: http://consultations.dh.gov.uk.

Any decisions to take further policy action on tobacco packaging will be taken only after full consideration is given to consultation responses, evidence and other relevant information.