Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they take into account the volume of smuggled cigarettes and other tobacco products when calculating the percentage of the United Kingdom's population who smoke.

The Government’s national ambition to reduce smoking prevalence among adults in England is measured using data from the Office for National Statistics “Integrated Household Survey”.

This survey asks the following two questions relating to smoking: “Have you ever smoked a cigarette, a cigar, or a pipe?” and “Do you smoke cigarettes at all nowadays?”

Background, methodology and other information relevant to this survey is available online at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/social-and-welfare-methodology/integrated-household-survey/index.html