Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how soon after the closure of her Department's consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping on 6 December 2023 she plans to publish the draft Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
Smoking is responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and causes around one in four cancer deaths in the UK. It also costs our country £17 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service.
That is why we will introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in this parliamentary session to create the first smokefree generation and enable us to further crack down on youth vaping. The consultation closed on 6 December 2023 and we will respond shortly ahead of the introduction of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.