Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to use the impact assessment entitled Tobacco and Vapes Bill: impact assessment, published on 20 March 2024, as part of its forthcoming Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

As set out in the King’s Speech, a bill will be introduced to progressively increase the age at which people can be sold cigarettes and impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will pave the way for a smoke-free United Kingdom and will be the biggest public health intervention since the ban on smoking in indoor public places in 2007.

The bill will be introduced to Parliament in the coming weeks, and an Impact Assessment will be published early in the passage of the bill. We will also conduct New Burdens Assessments for the measures in the bill and any future regulations, which will assess any costs to local authorities of enforcing the new measures.