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 (a) support access to and (b) provide funding for stop smoking services.

Adult smoking rates are at their lowest level in England at 12.7%. The public health grant continues to support local authorities to provide a range of public health services, including stop smoking services. Latest figures from 2021/22 show that we provided £68 million to local authority led Stop Smoking Services, with further reported spend of just under £12 million on wider tobacco control.

We continue to roll out the NHS Long Term Plan commitments for delivery of National Health Service tobacco dependence treatment services for those admitted to hospital and pregnant smokers. The NHS allocated £35 million spend over 2022/23 and will do so again this year.

To meet our ambition to be Smokefree by 2030, on 11 April 2023 the Government announced a range of new measures to help people quit smoking. This included a national Swap to Stop scheme to deliver one million vapes to help smokers quit, and a financial incentive scheme to support pregnant smokers to quit smoking.