King's Speech 2023 - Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Tobacco and Vapes Bill

“My Government will introduce legislation to create a smokefree generation by restricting the sale of tobacco so that children currently aged fourteen or younger can never be sold cigarettes, and to restrict the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes to children.”

• If we want to change the direction of our country and build a better future for our children, that means tackling the single biggest entirely preventable cause of ill- health, disability and death: smoking.

• The Bill will implement the hard but necessary decisions to get the country on the right path for the future. There is no more addictive product that is legally sold in our shops than tobacco — and four fifths of smokers start before the age of twenty

- which is why ‘stopping the start’ of addiction is vital.

What does the Bill do?

• The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will tackle the single biggest entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death: smoking.

• The Bill will:
• • create the first smokefree generation so children born on or after 1 January 2009 (turning 14 this year or younger) will never be able to be legally sold cigarettes. This will mean effectively raising the age of sale by one year each year for this generation, to prevent them and future generations from ever taking up smoking in the first place – because there is no safe age to smoke.
  • further crack down on youth vaping. The Government is looking at new regulations to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to children – while ensuring that vapes remain available for adult smokers to quit. We are consulting now on how to get this balance right, with proposals including: restricting the flavours and descriptions of vapes so they are no longer targeted at children; regulating point of sale displays so that vapes are kept out of sight of children; regulating vape packaging and product presentation, ensuring that neither are targeted to children and closing loopholes in the law which allow children to get free samples and buy non-nicotine vapes.
  • strengthen enforcement activity with new powers to fine, on the spot, rogue retailers who sell tobacco products or vapes to people underage. We will simultaneously crackdown on illegal online sales by enhancing online age 

    verification to stop the sale of tobacco products and vapes to underage people online.

    • We will not criminalise smoking – nor will anyone who can legally be sold cigarettes today be prevented from being so in the future. It is already illegal to sell vapes to under 18s and the age of sale is not changing.
    • We are wasting no time in getting on and delivering on the promise to create a smokefree generation. On 12th October, we launched an eight-week UK-wide public consultation on the smoking and vaping measures, so these can be implemented as soon as possible after the consultation closes in early December. The consultation has generated widespread support across the UK, with the Welsh Government, Scottish Government and the Department of Health in Northern Ireland all giving it their backing and agreeing to a joint consultation.
    • Our consultation is also considering measures to restrict the sale and supply of disposable vapes (including considering prohibiting their sale) and action on the affordability of vapes, including exploring a new duty on vapes as other countries have done, while ensuring that there is a significant differential between duty on vapes and tobacco products.

    Territorial extent and application

    • The Bill will extend to England and Wales and apply to England. However, the Government is working closely with the Devolved Administrations to understand their legislative intentions following consultation and to support them should they choose to implement these measures.

    Key facts

    • Smoking rates in the UK are now the lowest on record, at 12.9 per cent (around 6.4 million people) and 12.7 per cent of people smoke in England (2022 data). As stated in the Khan Review, without action nearly half a million more people will die from smoking by 2030.
    • Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death, disability and ill health. It causes 64,000 deaths a year in England, 1-in-4 of all cancer deaths, and kills up to two-thirds of its users. Smoking also substantially increases the risk of many major health conditions throughout people’s lives, such as strokes, diabetes, heart disease, stillbirth, dementia and asthma.
    • Smoking drives socioeconomic and geographic disparities in health outcomes. People in the least deprived areas of the country live around a decade longer than people in the most-deprived areas – and smoking is one of the biggest causes. 1- in-11 mothers smoke at the time of delivery and this as high as 1-in-5 in some parts 

      of the country. Smoking increases the chance of stillbirth by almost half and makes children twice as likely to be hospitalised for asthma from second-hand smoking. And a typical addicted smoker spends around £2,450 a year, significantly stretching the household budgets of those on lower incomes.

      • Smoking costs our country £17 billion a year, including £14 billion a year through lost productivity alone. This cost dwarfs the £10 billion income from taxes on tobacco products. It imposes £3 billion of costs on the NHS and care system alone. Almost every minute of every day someone is admitted to hospital due to smoking, and up to 75,000 GP appointments are made for smoking related illnesses every month – equivalent to over 100 appointments every hour.
      • More than 4-in-5 smokers (83 per cent) start before the age of 20. We know action targeted at young smokers works. When we raised the smoking age from 16 to 18, smoking prevalence in 16-17 year olds fell by 30 per cent. When the US raised the smoking age to 21, the chance of someone in that age group smoking fell by 39 per cent. It is very rare for people to take up smoking later in life.
      • Creating a smokefree generation could reduce smoking rates amongst 14-30 year olds to near-zero by 2040 (and help halve them within three to ten years of implementation). Over the next 50 years (by 2075), it could save tens of thousands of lives; avoid up to 115,000 cases of cases of strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other lung diseases; save the NHS and social care up to £18 billion; and boost the economy by up to £85 billion. And it will significantly level up the UK by tackling one of the largest preventable drivers of inequality in health outcomes.
      • The number of children using vapes has tripled in the past three years. A staggering 20.5 per cent of children had tried vaping in 2023 despite it being illegal to sell vapes to under 18s. More children now vape than smoke. Disposable vapes play a big part in this trend: in 2021, only 7.7 per cent of current vapers aged 11 to 17 used disposable vapes, but this increased to 52 per cent in 2022 and 69 per cent in 2023.
      • Youth vaping is a global issue and many countries have taken action. For example, in Australia vapes are only available by prescription. The US, Canada and New Zealand already restrict flavours. Rules we have inherited from the EU have led to a system where vapes are being routinely promoted and marketed to children at scale.
      • The Government has a strong history of taking bold and comprehensive action on tobacco control:
      • • smoking in cars with children was banned in 2014, and plain packaging for tobacco was introduced in 2016, building on measures introduced between 2012 and 2015 to prohibit the display of tobacco in shops;

      oinMay2020,thesaleofmentholflavouredcigarettesandhand-rollingtobacco was banned, as international evidence shows that many young people start smoking by using menthol cigarettes;

      • last year the Government provided £35 million to deliver on the NHS Long Term Plan’s commitments on smoking, including the offer of NHS-funded tobacco treatment services to inpatients who smoke and are admitted to hospital.
      • Alongside our legislative proposals, the Government has announced a significant package of new funding:
      • • we are supporting people to quit smoking by more than doubling the funding available (to £140 million) for local stop smoking services, to support a total of around 360,000 people a year to set a quit date. This funding will start from next April;
        • we are providing an additional £5 million this year (2023-24) and then £15 million a year thereafter (from 2024-25 – 2028-29) to fund national anti- smoking campaigns to explain the legislative changes, the benefits of quitting and support available;
        • we are strengthening enforcement of underage and illicit sales of tobacco and vapes by increasing funding for enforcement agencies – such as Border Force, HMRC and Trading Standards – by £30 million a year (from 2024-25 – 2028-29).