Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether provision is being made for observers, outside the national delegations, to attend the Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The Department has no plans to provide a submission to the Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties' secretariat ahead of the Conference. The Deputy Director for Addictions and Inclusion Policy at the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will lead the United Kingdom delegation with support from officials at the UK Mission in Geneva.

Applications to attend as an observer are a matter for the Conference secretariat and consequently, we are not aware of exclusions of third party representatives.