Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to the public purse of the legal challenge on the implementation of the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Product Regulations 2015.

The Department has given very careful and measured consideration to all legal aspects of the policy of standardised tobacco packaging and this includes the potential for legal claims and the costs associated with such claims. The Government does not disclose the legal advice it receives but having looked at the evidence considers the public health benefit of standardised packaging to justify these measures and that they are defensible in court.