Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many illegal (a) cigarettes and (b) vapes have been seized from retail outlets in England in (i) 2022, (ii) 2023 and (ii) 2024.

HM Revenue and Customs, Border Force, and Trading Standards are responsible for detaining and seizing illicit tobacco and vapes, including at ports and in-land from retailers. Information about seizures of illicit tobacco and vapes is collated in reports published by HM Revenue and Customs and National Trading Standards.

The latest figures show that 1.36 billion cigarettes, with a revenue value of £678.5 million, were seized by HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force in the United Kingdom in 2023/24, and 19.1 million cigarettes, worth £9.5 million, were seized by Trading Standards in England and Wales in 2023/24. 92.4 tonnes of hand-rolling tobacco, worth £41.9 million, was seized by HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force in the UK in 2023/24, and 5.2 tonnes of hand-rolling tobacco, worth over £2.3 million, was seized by Trading Standards in England and Wales in 2023/24.

1.2 million illicit vapes, worth £13.2 million, were seized inland by Trading Standards in England in 2023/24, and 1.1 million illicit vapes, worth £12.4 million, were detained at ports by Trading Standards in England, in the first half of 2024/25