Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December to Question 4083 on Tobacco, whether he plans to publish the Office for Budget Responsibility’s assessment of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill before its presentation.

Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom a year and one in four of all cancer deaths in the UK. It costs our country £17 billion a year, of which £14 billion is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.

We are not aware of any plans by the Office for Budget Responsibility to publish an assessment of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. However, we do plan to publish an impact assessment of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in due course.