Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Brine Excerpts

Tuesday 7th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Health and Care Committee.

[Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)]

I welcome today’s announcement of the appointment of Professor Deanfield as the Government’s prevention champion with a focus on cardiovascular disease, one of the main causes of which is, of course, smoking. May I ask where we are with an updated tobacco control plan, and whether the Minister will look again at the introduction of a “smoke-free fund” paid for by the tobacco industry to boost those new public health budgets?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Neil O’Brien)]

We will be setting out our next steps on smoking shortly, but we already have the lowest smoking level on record: it has fallen to 13%, partly as a result of the doubling of duty on cigarettes and partly owing to the introduction of a minimum excise tax. We will be investing £35 million in the NHS this year to ensure that all smokers who are admitted to hospital are given NHS-funded tobacco treatment.