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 implications for her policies of trends in the level of illegal sales of (a) tobacco, (b) vape and c) alcohol products.

Evidence shows that when we have introduced targeted tobacco control measures, they have had a positive impact on tackling the problems of illicit tobacco. When the age of sale was increased from 16 to 18 years old in 2007, this created 1.3 million more people who were no longer able to be sold cigarettes, and in theory would be in the market for illicit cigarettes. However, in practice, the number of illicit cigarettes consumed fell by 25% from 10 billion in 2005/06 to 7.5 billion in 2007/08. Overall, the consumption of illicit cigarettes has gone from 15 billion cigarettes in 2000/2001 to 1.5 billion cigarettes in 2022/2023.

The Government is investing over £100 million over five years to boost HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force’s enforcement capabilities to tackle illicit tobacco, supporting their Illicit Tobacco Strategy. In 2025/26, we will invest £30 million of new funding in total for enforcement agencies, including Trading Standards, Border Force, and HM Revenue and Customs, to tackle the illicit and underage sale of tobacco and vapes.

We have invested £3 million over two years specifically to enhance the work led by National Trading Standards to tackle underage and illicit vape sales. This is done through enhancing market surveillance, enforcement action at ports, intelligence development, and financial support for the storage and disposal of vapes. The new funding for 2025/26 will build on this work to tackle underage and illicit vape sales.

On alcohol, the Licensing Act 2003 regulates the sale and supply of alcohol in England and Wales, and sets out offences relating to the purchase and consumption of alcohol by children. The protection of children from harm is one of the four licensing objectives under the act, and the statutory guidance that accompanies this act makes it clear that the illegal purchase and consumption of alcohol by minors is a criminal activity that may arise in connection with licensed premises, and that this should be treated particularly seriously by licensing authorities. The guidance also sets out that licensing authorities are expected to maintain close contact with the police, young offenders’ teams, and trading standards officers about the extent of unlawful sales and consumption of alcohol by minors, be involved in the development of any strategies to control or prevent these unlawful activities, and to pursue prosecutions.

Since 2016, HM Revenue and Customs has operated a comprehensive strategy to combat illicit alcohol. This initiative has seen duty losses successfully reduce by over £500 million annually. This has been achieved through the introduction of measures such as the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme, which controls the supply of wholesale alcohol in the United Kingdom. Collaborative efforts with other enforcement agencies such as Trading Standards and Border Force have also enhanced compliance and enforcement, significantly reducing the availability of illicit alcohol.