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 reduce smoking prevalence rates amongst (a) serving armed forces personnel and (b) veterans; and if he will make a statement.

The Government has a proven track record in reducing the harm that tobacco causes, and in July 2017 we published a new tobacco control plan to build on that success. In the plan we commit to reducing smoking prevalence from 15.5% to 12% in adults by 2022. Our armed forces and veterans are in this category and we continue to ensure that tobacco control remains a priority to reduce health inequalities.

The Ministry of Defence undertakes targeted activities to encourage defence personnel and their families to stop smoking and continues to monitor smoking prevalence among United Kingdom Armed Forces personnel, which has reduced by approximately 5% between January 2014 and January 2018.