Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will announce a date for the publication of the tobacco control plan; and if he will take steps to ensure that that plan guarantees adequate and sustainable funding for local smoking cessation services.

The Government is developing a new tobacco control plan, which will be published shortly. We will continue our comprehensive tobacco control strategy, one element of which is the provision of evidence-based stop smoking services. Councils will receive £16 billion of public health funding between 2016 and 2021 to provide vital services for their local population including smoking cessation services. As there is such a wide variety in smoking across the country, local councils must have the flexibility to consider how best to respond to the needs of their populations.