Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of people who vape who were not formerly tobacco smokers.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Data from the Office for National Statistics adult smoking habits survey show that around 2.4% of people who have never smoked reported that they were daily or occasional vape users in 2022, an increase from 1.7% in 2021.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social care, whether he has had recent discussions with supermarkets on the (a) sale and (b) placement of vaping products in their premises.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Officials from the Department have met with supermarkets and retail associations to discuss vaping policy, including to discuss what further measures can be taken to protect children from accessing vapes and enforcing our vaping regulations.
The Government recently ran a call for evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vaping products, and this explored how vapes are promoted in retail outlets. We are currently considering a range of options based on the evidence provided and intend to respond to the call for evidence in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his policy to require outlets selling vaping products to cover them up from public view.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Nicotine vapes, including disposables, are regulated through the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016. These regulations protect children through restricting the sale of vapes to only people over the age of 18, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and through advertising restrictions.
Every nicotine vape packet contains a health warning. Vapes can also only be advertised in certain media and with certain restrictions. More information on these restrictions is available at the following link:
https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_section/22.html
While vaping is a preferable alternative to smoking for adults, we are concerned about the rise in youth vaping, particularly the increasing use of disposable vapes and the unknown long-term harms. Given the recent increases, the Government recently ran a call for evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vaping products.
The Government is currently considering a range of options based on the evidence provided, including potential changes to vaping policy and regulation. We intend to respond to the call for evidence in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his policy to restrict the advertising of disposable vaping products.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Nicotine vapes, including disposables, are regulated through the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016. These regulations protect children through restricting the sale of vapes to only people over the age of 18, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and through advertising restrictions.
Every nicotine vape packet contains a health warning. Vapes can also only be advertised in certain media and with certain restrictions. More information on these restrictions is available at the following link:
https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_section/22.html
While vaping is a preferable alternative to smoking for adults, we are concerned about the rise in youth vaping, particularly the increasing use of disposable vapes and the unknown long-term harms. Given the recent increases, the Government recently ran a call for evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vaping products.
The Government is currently considering a range of options based on the evidence provided, including potential changes to vaping policy and regulation. We intend to respond to the call for evidence in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his Department's policy to reduce the availability of disposable vapes.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Nicotine vapes, including disposables, are regulated through the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016. These regulations protect children through restricting the sale of vapes to only people over the age of 18, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and through advertising restrictions.
Every nicotine vape packet contains a health warning. Vapes can also only be advertised in certain media and with certain restrictions. More information on these restrictions is available at the following link:
https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_section/22.html
While vaping is a preferable alternative to smoking for adults, we are concerned about the rise in youth vaping, particularly the increasing use of disposable vapes and the unknown long-term harms. Given the recent increases, the Government recently ran a call for evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vaping products.
The Government is currently considering a range of options based on the evidence provided, including potential changes to vaping policy and regulation. We intend to respond to the call for evidence in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his policy to add health warnings to disposable vapes.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Nicotine vapes, including disposables, are regulated through the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016. These regulations protect children through restricting the sale of vapes to only people over the age of 18, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and through advertising restrictions.
Every nicotine vape packet contains a health warning. Vapes can also only be advertised in certain media and with certain restrictions. More information on these restrictions is available at the following link:
https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_section/22.html
While vaping is a preferable alternative to smoking for adults, we are concerned about the rise in youth vaping, particularly the increasing use of disposable vapes and the unknown long-term harms. Given the recent increases, the Government recently ran a call for evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vaping products.
The Government is currently considering a range of options based on the evidence provided, including potential changes to vaping policy and regulation. We intend to respond to the call for evidence in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of people under the age of 18 who vape.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Data on vaping is available at England level for those aged 11 to 15 through the 'NHS Smoking, Drinking and Drug use among Young People in England' publication. Current vaping prevalence among those aged 11 to 15 was 9% in 2021.
ASH survey data on youth vaping from 2023 shows a similar trend, with 7.6% of children aged 11 to 17 currently vaping. More information on this survey is available at the following link:
https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the rate of early diagnosis for dementia.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In December 2022, the recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% was included in the NHS priorities and operational planning guidance as part of the refined mental health objectives for 2023/24. This reinforces the importance of dementia as a key priority for NHS England and provides a clear direction for integrated care boards to support delivery of timely diagnoses within systems.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to prepare the NHS to use disease-modifying treatments for dementia before their potential approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has a proactive national dementia programme in place and is monitoring international trial data with great interest, including studies looking into new ways of more easily diagnosing dementia at an earlier stage.
Any decision on the potential scale of testing infrastructure and workforce to support the administration of new treatments will take account numerous factors. This includes the quality of trial evidence to emerge that supports a future licence in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, and if it is subsequently determined by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to be a clinically and cost-effective NHS treatment option.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer on 21 March 2023 to Question 167154 on sleep, when his Department plans to publish its response to the Advancing Our Health: Prevention in the 2020s consultation.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department committed in Advancing Our Health: Prevention in the 2020s to review the evidence on sleep and health. Public Health England commissioned a series of reviews that are now complete.
More broadly, the Government announced on 24 January 2023 that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy. The strategy will focus on conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England, allowing us to focus our efforts on the key actions needed to achieve the Government’s manifesto commitment of gaining five extra years of healthy life expectancy by 2035. An interim report will be published in the summer. This work will take account of relevant responses to, and work carried out since, Advancing Our Health: Prevention in the 2020s.