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Written Question
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Regulatory Policy Committee's revised opinion on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is published by 16 April 2024.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four cancer deaths in the UK. It also costs our country £17 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. That is why we have introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to create the first smokefree generation, and enable us to further crack down on youth vaping. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is available at the following link:

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3703

On 12 February 2024 the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) gave opinion on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill impact assessment and rated it green (fit for purpose). However, on 19 March 2024, ahead of the introduction of the bill, a revised version was sent to the RPC for comment. This included changes to reflect the inclusion of Northern Ireland in the bill, following the formation of a Northern Ireland Executive, and a power in the bill to enable the current notification system for nicotine vapes to also cover non-nicotine vapes and other consumer nicotine products, for instance nicotine pouches. The RPC have publicly stated that they welcome the resubmission of the revised impact assessment, and we expect a revised opinion to be issued shortly. The statement from the RPC is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-tobacco-and-vapes-bill-statement-from-the-rpc


Written Question
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the Regulatory Policy Committee's original opinion on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill submitted to her Department on 12 February 2024; if she will outline the changes she has made to that Bill since receiving that opinion; and what discussions she has had with the Regulatory Policy Committee on the expected timetable for their submission of the revised opinion.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four cancer deaths in the UK. It also costs our country £17 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. That is why we have introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to create the first smokefree generation, and enable us to further crack down on youth vaping. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is available at the following link:

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3703

On 12 February 2024 the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) gave opinion on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill impact assessment and rated it green (fit for purpose). However, on 19 March 2024, ahead of the introduction of the bill, a revised version was sent to the RPC for comment. This included changes to reflect the inclusion of Northern Ireland in the bill, following the formation of a Northern Ireland Executive, and a power in the bill to enable the current notification system for nicotine vapes to also cover non-nicotine vapes and other consumer nicotine products, for instance nicotine pouches. The RPC have publicly stated that they welcome the resubmission of the revised impact assessment, and we expect a revised opinion to be issued shortly. The statement from the RPC is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-tobacco-and-vapes-bill-statement-from-the-rpc


Written Question
Electronic Cigarettes
Wednesday 27th March 2024

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, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of taking steps to create a vape-free generation.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Smoking is the number one cause of ill-health, disability, and death, responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, causing around one in four cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. There is no more dangerous product that is legally sold in our shops than tobacco, a product that will kill two thirds of its users.

The health advice on vaping is clear, vaping can play a role in helping adult smokers to quit, but if you don’t smoke, don’t vape. Vaping should never be used by, or targeted at, children, especially given the highly addictive nature of nicotine.

This is why we have announced strong measures to reduce the appeal, availability, and affordability of vapes to children, whilst ensuring that vapes remain an available quit aid for adult smokers. We will also ban the sale and supply of disposable vapes, which are clearly linked to the recent rise in vaping in children.


Written Question
Smoking
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions officials in her Department have had with the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities on the findings in it's Vaping in England review, published on 29 September 2022, that non-tobacco flavours may play a positive role in helping people switch from smoking to vaping.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Due to the nicotine content and the unknown long-term harms, vaping carries risks to health and lifelong addiction for children. Vaping is, therefore, only recommended for adult smokers who wish to quit smoking. Young people and people who have never smoked, should not vape.

Our youth vaping call for evidence, published in 2023, demonstrated that the flavours are one of the main reasons that vapes appeal to children. However, as set out in the 2022 Nicotine vaping in England review, we also recognize that there is some evidence that non-tobacco flavours can play a positive role in smoking cessation. This is why it is critical we strike the balance between restricting flavours in vapes to reduce their appeal to young people, whilst also ensuring that vapes remain available for adult smokers as a viable smoking cessation tool.

In the upcoming Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we will introduce powers to restrict vape flavours. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Department will then undertake further analysis and consultation before introducing any specific flavour restrictions. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) is an internal part of the Department, and OHID officials are leading on our smokefree generation and youth vaping work.


Written Question
Smoking
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of (a) vapes, (b) vapes with flavoured e-liquids and (c) vapes with fruit, dessert and sweet flavoured e-liquids at successful tobacco smoking cessation.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Due to the nicotine content and the unknown long-term harms, vaping carries risks to health and lifelong addiction for children. Vaping is, therefore, only recommended for adult smokers who wish to quit smoking. Young people and people who have never smoked, should not vape.

Our youth vaping call for evidence, published in 2023, demonstrated that the flavours are one of the main reasons that vapes appeal to children. However, as set out in the 2022 Nicotine vaping in England review, we also recognize that there is some evidence that non-tobacco flavours can play a positive role in smoking cessation. This is why it is critical we strike the balance between restricting flavours in vapes to reduce their appeal to young people, whilst also ensuring that vapes remain available for adult smokers as a viable smoking cessation tool.

In the upcoming Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we will introduce powers to restrict vape flavours. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Department will then undertake further analysis and consultation before introducing any specific flavour restrictions. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) is an internal part of the Department, and OHID officials are leading on our smokefree generation and youth vaping work.


Written Question
Health Services: Finance
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure local authorities can finance the delivery of essential medical (a) devices and (b) services.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Under their public health responsibilities, local authorities in England commission or provide a range of health services for their local populations. Some of these services are likely to involve the use of medical devices.

Public health funding to local authorities has increased each year over the Spending Review period. In 2024/25 the total Public Health Grant to local authorities will be £3.603 billion. In addition, we have provided additional targeted investment to local authorities in England for drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery, and services that support the best start in life, and from April 2024 we will double current investment in local authority stop smoking services, in support of our commitment to deliver a smoke-free generation.

This overall funding package will deliver a real-terms increase of more than 4% over the two years 2023/24 and 2024/25 in departmental funding allocated for local authority public health functions.


Written Question
Electronic Cigarettes: Children
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) prevalence of the use of disposable vapes by people under the age of 18 and (b) impact of that use on their health.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Vaping is never recommended for children and carries the risk of future harm and addiction. The active ingredient in most vapes, apart from nicotine-free vapes, is nicotine which, when inhaled, is a highly addictive drug. Evidence suggests that the brain in adolescence is more sensitive to the effects of nicotine, so there could be additional risks for young people. The long-term health harms of colours and flavours when inhaled are unknown, but they are certainly very unlikely to be beneficial.

The Department does not hold data on the prevalence of the use of disposable vapes by people under the age of 18 years old. However, Action on Smoking and Health’s survey, Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain, found that 69% of vape users aged 11 to 17 years old mainly used disposable vapes in 2023, rising from 7.7% in 2021. Northern Ireland’s Young person’s behaviour and attitude survey 2022, shows that 85.7% of 11 to 16 year olds in Northern Ireland who currently use vapes, reported that they used disposables. Both surveys are available respectively at the following links:

https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain

https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/young-persons-behaviour-and-attitudes-survey-2022-substance-use-data-tables


Written Question
Health Services: Children
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding by the NHS Confederation that there has been a 26 per cent cut to the public health grant per person in real terms since 2015–16; and what plans they have to ensure that every baby and young child in England can receive the full Healthy Child Programme.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

At the 2021 Spending Review, we considered the need for local government public health funding, and have provided cash growth in the Public Health Grant to local authorities each year over the settlement period. In 2024/25 the total Public Health Grant to local authorities will be £3.603 billion, providing local authorities with an average 2.1% cash increase compared to 2023/24.

In addition to the Public Health Grant, we have provided additional targeted investment to local authorities in England for drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery, and services that support the best start in life. From April 2024 we will also double current spend on stop smoking services, in support of our commitment to deliver a smoke-free generation. This overall funding package will deliver a real term increase of more than 4%, over the two years 2023/24 and 2024/25, in Department funding allocated for local authority public health functions.

Local authorities are responsible for using their Public Health Grant to provide a Healthy Child Programme that best meet the needs of their local populations. In addition, the health visiting workforce is fundamental to enabling successful delivery of this programme, and as part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, we will be expanding training places by 74% to over 1,300 by 2031/32. To support progress towards this expansion, training places for health visitors will grow by 17% by 2028/29.


Written Question
WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the outcomes of the Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; and if she will have discussions with the Leader of the House on making parliamentary time available for scrutiny of those outcomes.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability, and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom a year, and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year. This is why the Government is committed to creating the first smokefree generation, ensuring no child born after 1 January 2009 will ever legally be sold tobacco.

The tenth Conference of Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco control was an opportunity for the UK to showcase our international leadership on tobacco control. No decisions from COP10 will impact our plans to create the first smokefree generation, or our policies on vaping. I will update the House shortly on the outcomes from COP10.


Written Question
Retail Trade: Electronic Cigarettes
Monday 4th March 2024

Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to use (a) licensing and (b) planning powers to reduce the number of mini markets trading in illegal vapes.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is concerned about the increase in the number of illicit vapes in the United Kingdom’s market, as well as the access and availability of these vapes to children. In April of last year, we provided £3 million of funding for a new enforcement unit to tackle the illegal and underage sale of vapes, which has conducted targeted inspections in retail outlets and ports, upskilled trading standards officers, and piloted online underage test programmes.

Whilst there are no current plans to introduce a licensing scheme, we have also recently announced a further £30 million of additional funding per year to tackle illicit and underage sales of tobacco and vape products. This additional funding in England will boost agencies such as local trading standards, to enforce the new age of sale and vaping restrictions.

Alongside this package of funding, we are also taking assertive action to reduce youth vaping more generally. We recently published our response to the smoking and vaping consultation, which sets out plans to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to children, through introducing restrictions on flavours, packaging, and point of sale display. Our response to the consultation is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/creating-a-smokefree-generation-and-tackling-youth-vaping/outcome/creating-a-smokefree-generation-and-tackling-youth-vaping-consultation-government-response

We have also announced that we will ban the sale and supply of disposable vapes, and have set out plans to introduce a £100 fixed penalty notice for underage sales of tobacco and vaping products. The Government will introduce legislation as soon as possible.