Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of how many (a) e-cigarette and (b) tobacco products were sold (i) online and (ii) online to people underage in each of the last five years.

It is an offence to sell tobacco and vapes to children under 18. The Government is committed to tackling underage sales, including online.

Whilst we do not hold the information requested, a Chartered Trading Standards Institute survey showed that from 2019 to 2020, of the councils who undertook test purchasing, 50% reported that cigarettes or tobacco products were sold to people who were underage in at least one premise. Similarly in 2022 to 2023, National Trading Standards identified that 27% of the 1,000 vape test purchases carried out with retailers resulted in an illegal sale.

We will introduce legislation, namely the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, in this parliamentary session to strengthen our enforcement activity, through new powers to fine rogue retailers. We have also committed to enhance online age verification to stop underage sales of tobacco products and vapes online.