Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Public Health England's document, Stop smoking options: guidance for conversations with patients, published on 20 August 2018, what evidence Public Health England assessed to inform its recommendation that E-cigarettes can help people quit smoking, with similar or better results than NRT.

Public Health England (PHE) referenced two papers in the guidance that helped inform its recommendation. They were:

- ‘Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation: a randomised controlled trial’ by Bullen and others.

- ‘Real‐world effectiveness of e‐cigarettes when used to aid smoking cessation: a cross‐sectional population study’ by Brown and others.

PHE’s recommendation is also supported by evidence from local stop smoking services in England, where people using e-cigarettes and stop smoking medicines consecutively have the highest rates of success, with 75% quitting successfully compared to 50% for those using medicines alone.