Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2023 to Question 3835 on Tobacco: Sales, what discussions she has had with Trading Standards on the resources required to enforce a generational smoking ban.

Smoking is responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and causes approximately 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, enable us to further crack down on youth vaping and strengthen our enforcement activity, through new powers to fine rogue retailers. To ensure the law is enforced, the Government is providing an additional £30 million a year for enforcement agencies to support work on underage and illicit sales of tobacco products and vapes.

Officials are speaking regularly with trading standards about the use of the additional enforcement funding and around enforcement action more generally.