Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessments he has made of the adequacy of branding and packaging regulations for e-cigarettes manufacturers in ensuring those goods do not appeal to children and teenagers under the age of 18.

We have regulations in place to discourage underage vaping. The law protects children through restricting sales of vapes to over 18 year olds only, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and through advertising restrictions.

The Department continues to work with the Advertising Standards Authority to enforce the current set of regulations and to work with platforms to improve their community guidelines.

However, given the changing circumstances surrounding vapes, the Government has launched a call for evidence on youth vaping to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vape products. This explores issues such as the appearance and packaging of vapes, their marketing, branding and promotion, and the role of social media.

The call for evidence will close on Tuesday 6 June. Following this, the Government will consider a range of options based on the evidence provided, including potential changes to vaping policy and regulations.