Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will (a) advocate for a contemporary approach to tobacco harm reduction and (b) propose an inclusive and contemporary approach to harm reduction be developed through a dedicated working group being established at the forthcoming ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in November 2021 (COP9).

The United Kingdom is fully committed to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and we are clear that all tobacco products are harmful to health. At the Ninth Conference of Parties, the UK will not advocate for a contemporary approach nor a working group on tobacco harm reduction products such as novel tobacco products. However, we will set out our approach to e-cigarettes which is pragmatic and evidence based.