Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he makes of the cost effectiveness of smoking cessation products dispensed via the NHS in ensuring that patients quit cigarettes for longer than four weeks; and if he will make a statement.

No separate assessment has been made of the effectiveness of smoking cessation products dispensed via the National Health Service in ensuring that patients quit cigarettes for longer than four weeks. There is evidence that smoking cessation products are effective in supporting smokers to quit, in particular when combined with specialist support. In the latter case smokers are four times as likely to stop smoking successfully as those who attempt to quit unaided or with over the counter nicotine replacement therapy.