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.
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.
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.
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 implications for her policies of the recent guidance issued by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on not reporting alleged illegal abortions to the police.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No assessment has been made of the implications for the Department’s policies following the recent Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidance for healthcare staff on involvement of the police and external agencies following abortion, pregnancy loss and unexpected delivery. Clinicians and health care providers have existing duties to handle patient information sensitively. The Department’s focus is on ensuring all women have access to safe and legal abortions on the National Health Service. Decisions to prosecute in England and Wales are for the Crown Prosecution Service.
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 steps she is taking to support voluntary sector providers of mental health services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Since 2020, the Department provided £10.2 million of additional funding to support mental health charities, including Samaritans and the Campaign Against Living Miserably, and over £34 million to organisations supporting people who experience loneliness. The Department also invested £5.4 million to support suicide prevention through 113 voluntary and community sector organisations, through the Suicide Prevention Grant Fund. This was part of the Government's unprecedented £750 million package of support for the voluntary sector during the pandemic, which benefited over 14,000 charities. In addition, the Suicide Prevention Grant Fund will run from 2023 to March 2025 to support voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to deliver suicide prevention activity.
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 potential impact of limiting vape flavours to tobacco-flavoured devices on levels of smoking; and if she will bring forward legislative proposals to implement such a limitation.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Due to nicotine content and the unknown long-term harms, vaping carries risks to health and lifelong addiction for children. The health advice is clear that young people and people who have never smoked should not vape.
This is why the Government consulted on measures to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to children. These measures will need to balance having the biggest impact on youth vaping with ensuring vapes continue to support adult smokers to quit.
The consultation response will be published shortly.
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, with reference to the consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping, published on 12 October 2023, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of including heated tobacco products within these proposals on levels of smoking cessation.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and causes approximately 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. This is why the Government is planning to create a smokefree generation by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 14 years old or younger this year will never be legally sold tobacco products.
All tobacco products are harmful. The new legislation proposes to mirror existing age of sale legislation which includes any product containing tobacco, both smoked and smokeless, and intended for oral or nasal use, and cigarette papers. Our consultation to gather views on our proposals and their implementation closed on 6 December 2023.
We will publish our Impact Assessment shortly.
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, how soon after the closure of her Department's consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping on 6 December 2023 she plans to publish the draft Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for around 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 will introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in this parliamentary session to create the first smokefree generation and enable us to further crack down on youth vaping. The consultation closed on 6 December 2023 and we will respond shortly ahead of the introduction of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
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 steps her Department is taking to tackle shortages of Riluzole; and whether she plans to issue guidance to (a) local NHS Trusts and (b) prescribers to help ensure patients are able to access treatment for motor neurone disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware that one of the suppliers of riluzole 50 milligram tablets is experiencing a supply issue. However, alternative suppliers have stock available. We are working closely with all the relevant manufacturers to expedite deliveries, where possible, to ensure supplies remain available for patients in the United Kingdom.
We have well-established processes for managing and mitigating medicine supply issues, which involve working with the pharmaceutical industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England, the devolved governments and others operating in the supply chain to help ensure patients have access to the treatments they need.
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 recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Mental Health Support Teams in reducing levels of demand on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
An independent early evaluation commissioned by the Department of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Trailblazer programme was published in January and is available at the following link:
The evaluation examines the development, implementation, and early progress of the first wave of mental health support teams in the first 25 ‘trailblazer’ areas participating in the programme, which became operational from January 2020.
A second independent evaluation, which will consider the longer-term impacts of Mental Health Support Teams has also been commissioned through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). This project commenced in June 2023 and is due to complete June 2026. The findings will be published once a final report has been submitted and approved by the NIHR.