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 address the use of sweet flavoured nicotine powders by minors.

Oral nicotine pouches are white pouches containing nicotine and other ingredients, including flavourings, and do not contain tobacco. Nicotine powder is the raw ingredients within the pouch.

Prevalence of nicotine pouches remains low, and whilst there is currently no age of sale restrictions on nicotine pouches, manufacturers do print age restrictions on their packs.

The UK Government and devolved administrations recently launched a consultation on our proposals for a smokefree generation. This includes consideration of whether the government should regulate other consumer nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches, under a similar regulatory framework as nicotine vapes. The consultation is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/creating-a-smokefree-generation-and-tackling-youth-vaping