Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps Public Health England is taking to enforce the ban on menthol cigarettes.

The ban on characterising flavours such as menthol in cigarettes came into force on 20 May 2020. In advance of the ban, several tobacco companies launched new brands marketed at menthol smokers.

Public Health England is the Competent Authority under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 responsible for testing and receiving notifications of tobacco products.

If any products are tested and found to be in breach of the United Kingdom regulations, then they will be removed from the list of notified products for sale.