Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of extra enforcement officers required in each local authority to ensure that people born on after 1 January 2009 do not purchase tobacco products if the provisions of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill are enacted.

History shows that when we have introduced targeted tobacco control measures, the size of the illicit market has not increased and in fact continued to fall. When the age of sale was increased from 16 to 18 in 2007, prevalence in this age group reduced by 30% and the number of illicit cigarettes consumed overall fell by 25% from 10 billion in 2005/06 to 7.5 billion in 2007/08.

The Department will conduct a New Burdens Assessment to assess the impact of policies in the Bill on local authorities prior to the Bill receiving Royal Assent. At this stage, we have not made a specific assessment of the number of additional enforcement officers needed in each local authority. However, we have engaged with National Trading Standards, the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers' Board and Trading Standards regions to identify where to additional support and funding is needed to enforce the provisions in the Bill. As a result, an additional £10 million funding for Trading Standards was announced on 23 March 2025 which will bolster operations in local communities for the next year. This will fund an expected 80 more apprentice enforcement officers to tackle underage sales and prevent harmful tobacco and vape products finding their way into neighbourhood shops. We have allocated the apprenticeship funding regionally, based on smoking and vaping prevalence in the area, to target the areas where enforcement will most likely be needed.

In total, we will invest £30 million of new funding in 2025/26 for enforcement agencies including Trading Standards, Border Force and HM Revenue and Customs to tackle the illicit and underage sale of tobacco and vapes, supporting the implementation of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.