The Government has announced a further major crackdown on youth vaping in England.
Whilst ensuring that vapes continue to be available to current adult smokers is vital to reducing smoking rates, the number of children using vapes has tripled in the past 3 years and a staggering 20.5% of children had tried vaping in 2023.
Due to the nicotine content and the unknown long-term harms, vaping carries risk of harm and addiction for children. The health advice is clear: young people and those who have never smoked should not vape.
The Government is conscious of the need to balance having the biggest impact on youth vaping with ensuring vapes continue to support adult smokers to quit. The proposals we are considering include: restricting flavours, regulating point of sale displays, regulating packaging and presentation, considering restricting the sale of disposable vapes, and closing loopholes in the law on free samples and non-nicotine vape
They will consult on measures later this month and plan to work closely with colleagues in the devolved administrations with a view to aligning policy approaches wherever this would improve outcomes – continuing ongoing collective action to tackle the harms causes by smoking and youth vaping across all parts of the UK
The measures they are announcing demonstrate this government’s commitment to protect future generations from the harms of smoking and to curb the rise in youth vaping.
The consultation that is in place asks questions in 3 areas for which new legislation would be needed, which are:
- Creating a smokefree generation: consulting on the smokefree generation policy and its scope.
- Tackling youth vaping: consulting on several options to ensure we take the most appropriate and impactful steps, building on England’s analysis of the youth vaping call for evidence.
- Enforcement: consulting on the proposal to introduce new powers for local authorities in England and Wales to issue fixed penalty notices to enforce age of sale legislation of tobacco products and vapes.
Please find the consultation here
Further details, including indicative allocations of funding for stop smoking services by local authority, can be found here.