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) reduce smoking and (b) encourage smokers to transition to vaping.

The Government published its five-year tobacco control plan for England in July 2017. This set out a vision of a smoke-free generation and detailed ambitions to reduce smoking prevalence amongst adults, pregnant women and young people, as well as to reduce the inequality gap in smoking prevalence between those in routine and manual occupations and the general population. The plan also outlined a commitment to support consumers in stopping smoking and adopting the use of less harmful nicotine products such as e-cigarettes.

The Government published ‘The Tobacco Control Delivery Plan 2017-2022’ in June 2018, setting out the steps the Government and key delivery partners will take to help deliver those ambitions, including ongoing review of safety, uptake, impact and effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a means of quitting.