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 address the findings of the Public Health England report entitled Vaping in England: evidence update summary February 2019 that the number of children who have tried e-cigarettes has doubled since 2014.

Public Health England’s (PHE) report ‘Vaping in England: evidence update summary February 2019’ found e-cigarette use among young people in Great Britain has increased only modestly in recent years.

It found that, while experimentation with e-cigarettes among young people has increased in recent years, regular use remains low. Of the 2% of under 18s who used e-cigarettes weekly or more, the majority of those also smoked. Only 0.2% of young people who had never smoked used e-cigarettes regularly.

The Government has put in place proportionate regulation of e-cigarettes to protect young people, including a minimum age of sale and tight restrictions on advertising. PHE continues to monitor the trends in vaping among young people alongside those in smoking, to ensure the Government is on track to achieve its ambition of a smoke-free generation. This can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/towards-a-smoke-free-generation-tobacco-control-plan-for-england