Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House the grant letters and reports relating to payments and the objectives of their funding the Action on Smoking and Health in each of the last five years.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) were made through the Department of Health's Section 64 General Scheme of Grants to Voluntary and Community Organisations scheme (known as “Section 64 grants”).
The grant letters and full year grant monitoring and governance reports relating the Section 64 grants awarded to ASH in the past five years have been placed in the Library. The conditions applicable to the grants are set out in the grant letters.
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health has responsibility for the Section 64 grants made to ASH. The Departmental official responsible for governance is the Deputy Director, Tobacco Control.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy of the information in <i>Guidance for Trading Standards on engaging with the tobacco industry</i>, endorsed by Public Health England; and what is the legal basis of the document.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
This guidance was compiled by the Tackling Illicit Tobacco for Better Health Partnership to assist local authority trading standards officers.
The guidance, which has been endorsed by a number of trading standards and public health organisations, references the treaty obligations set out in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and guidelines that have been made for the implementation of the FCTC.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Local Government Declaration on Tobacco Control on tackling the illicit tobacco market and in respect of the statutory obligations of local authorities in this area.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Local Government Declaration on Tobacco Control is an initiative of the Smokefree Action Coalition. Local councils are invited to voluntarily sign the Declaration, as “a statement of a council’s commitment to ensure tobacco control is part of mainstream public health work and commits councils to taking comprehensive action to address the harm from smoking”.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential costs of compensation due to the loss of intellectual property arising from the introduction of standardised tobacco packaging.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government has considered carefully all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products, including legal aspects.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the likely impact on the illicit tobacco market of their announcement to proceed with standardised packaging for tobacco products.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government has considered carefully all aspects relevant to standardised packaging of tobacco products, including potential impacts on illicit trade. HM Revenue & Customs has prepared an assessment of the potential impact of standardised packaging on illicit tobacco, which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many meetings the Department of Health has had at ministerial and official level with Action on Smoking and Health between 1 January 2012 and 27 January 2015; and, for each meeting, what were the titles of those attending and the topics discussed.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Department of Health holds regular meetings with ASH to monitor delivery according to the terms of the grant awarded under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act.
Ministers and officials meet a range of organisations on a regular basis to discuss tobacco control.
Details of Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the Gov.UK website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings
Copies have been placed in the Library.
Searching for and preparing the correspondence requested for release could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House all correspondence including emails between Ministers and officials of the Department of Health and Action on Smoking and Health between 1 January 2012 and 27 January 2015.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Department of Health holds regular meetings with ASH to monitor delivery according to the terms of the grant awarded under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act.
Ministers and officials meet a range of organisations on a regular basis to discuss tobacco control.
Details of Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the Gov.UK website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings
Copies have been placed in the Library.
Searching for and preparing the correspondence requested for release could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of indications that there has been an increase in the consumption of illegal tobacco in countries which may have introduced plain packaging of tobacco products; and how they plan to take such findings into account before deciding whether to introduce such a policy in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government continues to consider carefully all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products, including emerging evidence from Australia.
No final decision has been made on whether to introduce regulations to require standardised packaging of tobacco products.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of indications that youth smoking rates in other countries may have increased following the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products; and how they plan to take such findings into account before deciding whether to introduce such a policy in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government continues to consider carefully all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products, including emerging evidence from Australia.
No final decision has been made on whether to introduce regulations to require standardised packaging of tobacco products.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of indications that the adult smoking rate in other countries may have increased following the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products; and how they plan to take such findings into account before deciding whether to introduce such a policy in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government continues to consider carefully all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products, including emerging evidence from Australia.
No final decision has been made on whether to introduce regulations to require standardised packaging of tobacco products.