Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the implications are for his policy of the statement by the Chief Medical Officer that e-cigarettes represent one of the three major health threats to the UK.

The Government’s policy on e-cigarettes is to enable the availability of products which meet appropriate standards of safety, quality and efficacy to support smoking cessation and to reduce the harm of smoking to smokers and those around them.

Beyond licenced medicinal products, the Government is working to transpose the provision of the Tobacco Products Directive (Directive 2014/40/EU) which will provide a framework for e-cigarettes which are not licensed as medicines. In addition to the safeguards the Tobacco Products Directive will introduce, the Government is committed to banning the sale of e-cigarettes to under 18s to protect children from the potential for nicotine addiction and the unknown risks of using e-cigarettes to developing lungs.

The Government’s policy will remain evidence based and we will continue to closely monitor all emerging research.