Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of introducing standardised plain packaging for vaping products on rates of youth vaping.

Our advice is clear, while vaping is less harmful than smoking and can be an effective smoking quit aid for adult smokers, it is not risk free and children and non-smokers should never vape.

Data from Action on Smoking and Health from 2026 shows that over one million 11 to 17-year-olds have tried vaping. Evidence suggests that packaging, product design, and flavours can increase the appeal of vaping products to children and young people. To address this, the Government launched a United Kingdom wide consultation on 10 July on proposals to reduce the appeal of tobacco, vaping, and nicotine products, including proposals to introduce plain, white packaging for vaping and nicotine products.

Evidence from University College London and Kings College London found that plain vape packaging reduced the appeal of vapes to young people without putting off adults who smoke. The proportion of young people who thought their friends would want to try a vape fell from approximately half, or 53%, with branded packaging to about a third, or 38%, with plain packaging, and to around a quarter, or 27%, when flavour descriptions were also limited.

These proposals are intended to reduce the appeal of vaping products to children and young people and help reduce youth vaping. The Government has assessed the potential impact of these policies on the number of people vaping in the consultation-stage impact assessment. The Government will carefully consider all consultation responses before making any final policy decisions.