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 introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products in other countries may have led to an increase in the consumption of cigarettes; 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 when they will publish the results of the consultation on the standardised packaging of tobacco products.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
A consultation on the introduction of regulations for standardised packaging of tobacco products closed on 7 August 2014.
A summary report of this consultation 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 what plans they have to review the funding they provide to Action on Smoking and Health.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Department 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. Identifying the notes taken at these meetings would involve a disproportionate cost.
Details of Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the Gov.UK website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-external-meetings-2014
Details of the amounts awarded to ASH under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act are below:
Year | Project name | Award |
2010-11 | Capitalising on Smokefree: the way forward. | £220,000 |
2011-12 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2011-2012 | £150,000 |
2012-13 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2012-2013 | £150,000 |
2013-14 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2013-2014 | £175,000 |
2014-15 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2014-2015 | £200,000* |
*Awarded but not yet paid.
ASH has not received any funding from Public Health England.
The applications for grants provided under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act are considered individually on their own merit. Any grants awarded are monitored according to the objectives set out in the grant award letter in line with terms and conditions set out in the Act. ASH provides the Department with an end of grant report for each grant.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding Action on Smoking and Health received from the Department of Health or Public Health England in each of the last five years; and on what basis any funding was made available including performance agreements or measures.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Department 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. Identifying the notes taken at these meetings would involve a disproportionate cost.
Details of Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the Gov.UK website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-external-meetings-2014
Details of the amounts awarded to ASH under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act are below:
Year | Project name | Award |
2010-11 | Capitalising on Smokefree: the way forward. | £220,000 |
2011-12 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2011-2012 | £150,000 |
2012-13 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2012-2013 | £150,000 |
2013-14 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2013-2014 | £175,000 |
2014-15 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2014-2015 | £200,000* |
*Awarded but not yet paid.
ASH has not received any funding from Public Health England.
The applications for grants provided under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act are considered individually on their own merit. Any grants awarded are monitored according to the objectives set out in the grant award letter in line with terms and conditions set out in the Act. ASH provides the Department with an end of grant report for each grant.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what meetings took place between the Department of Health and Action on Smoking and Health in each of the last three years; and, for each meeting, who were the attendees, including job titles, and what were the nature, location and minutes or outcomes of each meeting.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Department 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. Identifying the notes taken at these meetings would involve a disproportionate cost.
Details of Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the Gov.UK website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-external-meetings-2014
Details of the amounts awarded to ASH under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act are below:
Year | Project name | Award |
2010-11 | Capitalising on Smokefree: the way forward. | £220,000 |
2011-12 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2011-2012 | £150,000 |
2012-13 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2012-2013 | £150,000 |
2013-14 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2013-2014 | £175,000 |
2014-15 | Supporting the Tobacco Plan for England 2014-2015 | £200,000* |
*Awarded but not yet paid.
ASH has not received any funding from Public Health England.
The applications for grants provided under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act are considered individually on their own merit. Any grants awarded are monitored according to the objectives set out in the grant award letter in line with terms and conditions set out in the Act. ASH provides the Department with an end of grant report for each grant.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the legal status in United Kingdom law of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Protocol and the Local Government Declaration on Tobacco Control.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is an international treaty that the United Kingdom signed on 16 June 2003, ratified on 16 December 2004 and which entered into force for the UK on 16 March 2005. The UK has therefore consented to be bound under international law by the rights and obligations set out in the FCTC. More information on the FCTC, including the text of the treaty is at on the web at:
www.who.int/fctc
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”. More information on the Declaration is on the web at:
www.smokefreeaction.org.uk/declaration
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 any correspondence between the Home Office and Department of Health regarding standardised packaging of tobacco products since 2011; and what were the contents of that correspondence.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government continues to carefully consider all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products.
The Department currently has no plans to place this information into the Library. Releasing this information at the present time would undermine Ministers and officials’ capacity for consideration and debate, which is required for proper deliberation of this developing policy.
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 a copy of the assessment undertaken by HM Revenue and Customs during the recent consultation of the potential effect of standardised packaging on the illicit tobacco market.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government continues to carefully consider all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products.
The Department currently has no plans to place this information into the Library. Releasing this information at the present time would undermine Ministers and officials’ capacity for consideration and debate, which is required for proper deliberation of this developing policy.
Asked by: Lord Palmer (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether ministerial agreement has been reached on whether the United Kingdom is to proceed with standardised tobacco packaging; and whether it had been reached when they notified the European Commission on the draft regulations.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government has not yet made a final decision on whether to introduce 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 when they will publish a revised impact assessment on standardised packaging of tobacco products following the comments of the Regulatory Policy Committee.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The consultation-stage impact assessment on standardised packaging of tobacco products is being updated following the public consultation, which ran between 26 June and 7 August 2014. The updated Impact Assessment takes into account previous comments from the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) and will be re-submitted to the RPC for their consideration before it is published.