Written question asked by Philip Davies (Conservative) on Tuesday, 25 October 2016, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 27 October 2016. It was answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Conservative) on Tuesday, 1 November 2016 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Smoking

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will undertake an independent review of the cumulative effect of tobacco control measures introduced by his Department in the last decade before moving forward with a refresh smoking strategy.

Answer

Ministers have received six letters and one email since 26 April 2016 from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). This correspondence makes reference to the tobacco control plan amongst other matters relating to tobacco control. These figures represent correspondence logged by the Department’s ministerial correspondence unit only. During this time frame, Ministers have not met with ASH.

The Department assesses the impact of all proposed measures before laying legislation using standard government methodology. These assessments are set out in Impact Assessments which are scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee before publication alongside the Statutory Instrument. A number of the tobacco measures contain commitments to further review the impact of the legislation within five years of them coming into force.

The 2013 report An Audit of the impact of the Department of Health’s Regulations upon business concluded that there is a robust cost-benefit case for the tobacco control regulations considered and experience shows that initiatives to reduce smoking prevalence work best in combination, with cumulative effects over time.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 50266
Session: 2016-17
Grouped for answer: Yes
Subjects: Regulation Tobacco Smoking
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

Smoking

Secondary information

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