Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making the sale of cigarettes subject to a system of licensing to help prevent the prevalence of illegal cigarettes.

An assessment provided in the Khan Review suggests a retailers' licensing scheme would reduce underage and illicit sales and protect law abiding businesses. We will shortly be unveiling a wide-reaching set of proposals to support our ambition to be Smokefree by 2030, and this will include action to further tackle illicit tobacco.