Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with television companies on reducing the prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption in programming.

No such discussions have taken place. It is for content makers to decide what to include in their programmes, provided that they comply with the Broadcasting Code. As television reflects real life, it can be expected that some people on television may smoke and drink alcohol. In respect of children and young people, the Ofcom Broadcasting Code stipulates that smoking, drugs and the misuse of alcohol must not be featured in programmes made primarily for children, and must generally be avoided and not condoned, encouraged, or glamorised before the watershed or in programmes likely to be seen by children.