Paul Farrelly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Farrelly on 2016-07-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to include reduced-harm products in the Government’s tobacco control plan on account of their potential health benefits to smokers.

Jane Ellison

For the first time, from May 2016, cessation information to signpost consumers to quitting support has become mandatory on tobacco products. The Government’s advice remains that the best thing a smoker can do is to quit and quit for good. Any smokers wanting to quit, with or without the help of products available on the market, are four times more likely to stop smoking and quit for good with the personalised support offered by local stop smoking services.

The National Centre for Stop Smoking Services has issued guidance on offering advice to those wanting to use e-cigarettes as part of their quit attempts and encouraged local stop smoking services to be open to their use.

The Government recognises that some people have found e-cigarettes helpful in quitting smoking and that they are considerably less harmful than continuing to smoke. The forthcoming tobacco control plan will consider the role of e-cigarettes and other harm reduction products in further reducing the prevalence of smoking in England.

The Department has no current plans to review the restrictions on advertising for tobacco products.