Draft Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency Trading Fund (Amendment) Order 2016

Justin Madders Excerpts

Monday 25th April 2016 General Committees

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I noticed that the Minister was slightly breathless. I am sure that that has something to do with his exertions yesterday, on which I congratulate him.

The Opposition support the order. We recognise that the technical amendments proposed for the MHRA are required to deal with the regulation of electronic cigarettes, particularly in respect of the revised tobacco products directive.

Despite the continuing long-term decline in the number of smokers over the past few decades, the latest estimates suggest that there are more than 100,000 smoking-related deaths each year, and Action on Smoking and Health has estimated that the cost to the NHS of smoking is between £2.7 billion and £5.2 billion a year.

In August 2015, Public Health England published evidence indicating that e-cigarettes are “95% safer than smoking”, pose

“no risk of nicotine poisoning”

and release “negligible” amounts of nicotine into the environment. The limited research that has been undertaken so far suggests that these products have a role to play in helping smoking cessation. They therefore need to be licensed by the MHRA to allow them to be sold officially as an aid to cease smoking and prescribed by the NHS. It is also important that regulations are in place to ensure that the products meet quality and safety standards.

In July 2015, the Government held a public consultation on implementing the revised tobacco products directive. We welcome the approach that has been adopted following the consultation, including the requirement for e-cigarette manufacturers to submit information to the Government about every product they sell, the requirement for health warnings on packages and the maximum cartridge size of 2 ml. It is also important that manufacturers that wish to supply their products without a medicinal licence will not be permitted to advertise them as an aid to smoking cessation. It should be noted that the regulation is supported by stakeholders such as Action on Smoking and Health, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians.

We welcome the order, but I have some questions that I hope the Minister will address when he responds. First, will he comment on the concern of some health stakeholders, which is identified in paragraph 3.16.7 on page 59 of the response to the consultation, that differences in terminology are beginning to emerge between the UK nations? What steps are the Government taking to work with the devolved Administrations to ensure that there is as little confusion as possible? That is particularly important when there are such rapid developments in these products.

Secondly, we support the use of e-cigarettes as an aid for smokers who are trying to quit, but so far the research has been limited. I hope that the commencement of the order will give us an opportunity to undertake larger-scale studies of the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool. Does the Minister intend to review the regulations in this area when more research comes to light? Has there been any assessment of how many patients are likely to be prescribed e-cigarettes? At a time when public health funding is being cut, I am anxious that this should not be seen as a quick fix to plug the gap. Given that the most effective smoking cessation services involve behavioural support in addition to licensed products containing nicotine, it is important that the prescribing of e-cigarettes goes hand in hand with other support and is not seen simply as a replacement for it.

Finally, some health professionals hold that the expansion of e-cigarette use could contribute to smoking becoming normalised again. Does the Minister agree that that is a risk, and what steps is he taking to combat it?