Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the merits of working with representatives of the vaping industry to help spread the Public Health England findings that e-cigarettes are 95 per cent less harmful than traditional cigarettes; and if he will make a statement.

Public Health England (PHE) is directed under the Tobacco Control Plan for England to include within quit smoking campaigns messages about the relative safety of e-cigarettes and to continue to provide smokers and the public with clear, evidence based and accurate information on the relative harm of nicotine, e-cigarettes, other nicotine delivery systems and smoked tobacco, to enable informed decision-making.

PHE has worked with the Independent British Vape Trade Association and its members to reassure smokers about the relative safety of e-cigarettes and to encourage smokers to switch. This has broadened PHE’s reach to the audience of smokers.