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 (a) providing additional funding for services that help people stop smoking and (b) using proceeds from the tobacco industry to fund smoking cessation services.

The Public Health Grant will increase over the current spending review period, rising to nearly £3.6 billion in 2024/25 and continues to support local authorities to provide a range of public health services, including stop smoking services.

Latest figures from 2021/22 show that local authorities reported spend of £68 million on local authority led stop smoking services, with further reported spend of nearly £12 million on wider tobacco control.

Local authorities are best placed to identify the groups within their community where resources should be focused to reduce smoking harms. We continue to work with HM Treasury regarding tobacco taxation and revenue funding, including reviewing options to raise additional funds for smoking cessation services.