Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the companies that produce and sell e-cigarettes (1) have, and (2) have not, signed up to a voluntary code to seek a licence so that the products meet standards of safety and quality.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect this information. Producers wishing to supply vapes and e-cigarettes on the United Kingdom market must comply with the product standards and safety requirements set out in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. This includes notifying their products to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before they are placed on the UK market.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has issued guidance to schools on reducing the use of e-cigarettes in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including what items are banned from school premises.
Schools have the autonomy to decide which items should be banned from their premises, and these can include e-cigarettes or vapes. School staff can search pupils for banned items as outlined in the Department’s Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/searching-screening-and-confiscation.
The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that, in both primary and secondary school, pupils should be taught the facts concerning legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks, including smoking, alcohol use, and drug-taking.
To support schools to deliver this content effectively, the Department has published a suite of teacher training modules, including one on drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, which makes specific reference to e-cigarettes and vaping.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the accessibility of vapes in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including what items are banned from school premises.
Schools have the autonomy to decide which items should be banned from their premises, and these can include e-cigarettes or vapes. School staff can search pupils for banned items as outlined in the Department’s Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/searching-screening-and-confiscation.
The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that, in both primary and secondary school, pupils should be taught the facts concerning legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks, including smoking, alcohol use, and drug-taking.
To support schools to deliver this content effectively, the Department has published a suite of teacher training modules, including one on drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, which makes specific reference to e-cigarettes and vaping.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of children smoking e-cigarettes; and what plans they have to put an age limit on sales.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There has been an increase in vaping and e-cigarette use amongst children aged 11 to 15 years old, as shown in the latest National Health Service Smoking Drinking and Drug Use survey data, which is available in an online-only format. This found that in 2021, 9% of pupils aged 11 to 15 years old were current vapers, compared to 6% in 2018, and 4% were regular users, compared to 2% in 2018. We already have an age limit on sales of vapes, with the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 making it an offence to sell vapes to persons aged under 18 and for an adult to purchase them on behalf of a person aged under 18.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward a ban of vaping in public enclosed places to prevent chemicals from vapes being exhaled in those spaces.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government has no plans to ban vaping in public enclosed places. In 2016, the Government published guidance to inform evidence-based policy making on vapes in public places and available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-e-cigarettes-in-public-places-and-workplaces
Organisations are able to use this guidance should they wish to implement their own evidence-based polices.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 (a) safety and (b) quality of e-cigarettes available to consumers.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The latest assessment on the safety and quality of vapes can be found in the Nicotine vaping in England: 2022 evidence update report, published in September 2022. The report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nicotine-vaping-in-england-2022-evidence-update
The report found that in the short and medium term, vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking, but that vaping is not risk-free, particularly for people who have never smoked. Vapes are regulated by the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR) requiring notification to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The TRPR sets product standards on the quality of vapes by limiting the maximum nicotine strength, setting refill bottle and tank size limits, setting requirements on labelling, and also by setting restrictions on advertising which includes mainstream media, TV and radio.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the compliance of companies selling disposable e-cigarettes with the waste electrical and electronic equipment producer scheme; and whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure that those companies are fully compliant with that scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has the responsibility in England for compliance monitoring registered producers under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations and for investigating and enforcing against producers that do not register. This work is prioritised using a risk-based approach and in line with the Environment Agency’s Enforcement and Sanctions Policy. Defra and the Environment Agency liaise closely on the operation of the current WEEE regulations and Defra will consider that feedback in our forthcoming consultation on the WEEE regulations later this year.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency has taken enforcement action to ensure companies selling disposable e-cigarettes are compliant with the waste electrical and electronic equipment producer scheme in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency undertakes a number of investigation and intervention steps prior to enforcement action, such as compliance monitoring and issuing advice and guidance. To date, the Environment Agency has not taken enforcement action under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations against any company selling disposable e-cigarettes.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which companies selling disposable e-cigarettes are listed on the waste electrical and electronic equipment public register.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Producers registered under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations are not required to report data at a product specific level. Producers of disposable vapes are required to report data under Category 7 (leisure equipment and toys) along with any other equipment they place on the market in that category. It is therefore not possible to identify from the public register which companies are placing disposable e-cigarettes on the UK market.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2023 to Question 129765 on Electronic Cigarettes: Regulation, whether he has had discussions with Trading Standards Authorities on e-cigarette manufacturer Elf Bar overfilling e-cigarette devices.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department was recently made aware of possible breaches of our vaping (e-cigarettes) regulations related to disposable vapes exceeding the restrictions on tank capacity. We are working closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to investigate the matter further and we have discussed this with Trading Standards Authorities.