Smoking Cessation: Prescription of E-cigarettes Debate

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Department: Department of Health and Social Care

Smoking Cessation: Prescription of E-cigarettes

Richard Holden Excerpts
Monday 1st November 2021

(2 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Maggie Throup Portrait Maggie Throup
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This Government are determined to level up, and as part of that we are levelling up for health, as well as some of the issues that the hon. Lady mentioned. Our Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will play a big role in moving forward with this issue.

Richard Holden Portrait Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)
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We know that smoking is a key cause of major health inequalities across the country between different demographics and different areas. Does my hon. Friend agree that if we want to level up health outcomes in the country, we will need to target products to support people by providing effective alternatives to smoking? As a smoker who wants to quit, I have seen many of my friends using multiple different products recently, from snus to heat-not-burn. Will she consider other options, in addition to e-cigarettes, that can cause less harm and enable people like me to quit?

Maggie Throup Portrait Maggie Throup
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My hon. Friend tempts me to say that he is a great role model. Perhaps he should try e-cigarettes and then probably try stopping smoking completely. He can put that message out across the Chamber about why levelling up is so important.