Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of users of e-cigarettes who will return to smoking tobacco (a) in the year ending May 2017 and (b) in each year between May 2017 and the end of this Parliament as a result of the introduction of the EU Tobacco Products Directive.

No such assessment has been made; the Department assesses the impact of all proposed measures before making legislation using standard government methodology. These Impact Assessments are scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee before publication alongside the Statutory Instrument.

An assessment of the impact of the provisions introduced by the EU Tobacco Products Directive will be published alongside the implementing Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 in spring this year. The expected health benefits from improved smoking quit rates have been estimated at around £13 billion.