Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the use of vapes by children under 16 years of age in the London Borough of Hounslow.

The Government is taking progressive national-level action through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to protect future generations from the harms of addiction and nicotine. The Bill includes strong measures to tackle youth vaping, including a ban on the sale of all vapes and nicotine products to children under the age of 18 years old and ending the free distribution of these products to anyone. The Bill will also ban the advertisement and sponsorship of all vapes and nicotine products and provides new powers to limit the flavours, packaging and changing where and how vapes and other nicotine products can be displayed.

The Bill also takes bold action to strengthen enforcement and tackle underage sales. This includes the introduction of new £200 fixed penalty notices to support Trading Standards to crack down on underage sales, and powers to introduce a licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco, vape and nicotine products. Alongside the Bill, the Government is investing over £100 million over five years to boost HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force enforcement capability. The Government is investing £10 million of new funding in Trading Standards this year to support the enforcement of illicit and underage tobacco and vape sales. This funding is being used to boost the Trading Standards workforce by recruiting over 80 new apprentices. Hounslow has been allocated a new apprentice.