Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support more independent research on heated tobacco products as recommended in the Public Health England report on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, published on 6 February 2018.

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health; it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Information on individual projects funded by the NIHR can be found at:

https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/

The Department will continue to work with Public Health England (PHE) to monitor the evidence base around heat not burn products. In the Tobacco Control Plan, published in July 2017, PHE committed to update their evidence report on e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine delivery systems annually until the end of the Parliament in 2022.