Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to prevent children from illegally purchasing vapes.

Selling nicotine vapes to under 18-year-olds is illegal, yet one in four 11 to 15-year-olds tried vaping in 2023. It is unacceptable that vapes are deliberately branded and advertised to appeal to children.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to children by banning vapes and nicotine products from being deliberately branded, promoted, and advertised to children, and by providing powers to limit flavours and packaging, and how vapes are displayed in shops.

The bill also takes bold action to strengthen enforcement. It will introduce £200 fixed penalty notices in England and Wales to empower Trading Standards to take swifter action to fine those who choose to break the law and sell to anyone underage, putting the public’s health at risk. The bill will also enable ministers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to introduce a licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco, vapes, and nicotine products. This will strengthen enforcement, support legitimate businesses, and crack down on rogue retailers who breach tobacco and vape regulations.

Alongside the bill, the Government is also investing £10 million of new funding in 2025/26 in Trading Standards, to support the enforcement of illicit and underage tobacco and vape sales and the implementation of the measures in the bill.