Following the announcement made by my Hon friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, in the adjournment debate yesterday on the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products (Official Report col 336-344), the Government has looked carefully at whether introducing legislation to require standardised packaging of tobacco products would be likely to deliver public health benefits, especially for children. Particular consideration has been given to possible unintended consequences, including information that was provided in the two public consultations on standardised packaging.
The Government believes that the introduction of standardised packaging would be likely to deliver important public health benefits, and that moving forward is justified. The powers in the Children and Families Act 2014, require that consent is obtained from Ministers in the Devolved Administrations for the regulations to extend to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Once that consent is obtained the Government intends to quickly lay before Parliament draft regulations to introduce standardised packaging for debate. Subject to the agreement of the Devolved Administrations and of Parliament, it is the Government’s intention to make the regulations before Parliament dissolves.
Smoking remains a critical public health concern and the Government wants, in particular, to take concerted action to reduce the uptake of smoking by children and young people. The evidence and relevant information has been considered thoroughly.
The Government asked eminent medical researcher and paediatrician Sir Cyril Chantler to undertake an independent review of the health evidence relating to standardised packaging of tobacco, and the report of the review was published in April 2014. Sir Cyril concluded that it is highly likely that standardised packaging would serve to reduce the rate of children taking up smoking and that the policy would very likely lead to a modest but important reduction over time on the uptake and prevalence of smoking and thus have a positive impact on public health.
When the Chantler Review was published, Health Ministers said that they were minded to proceed with standardised packaging, subject to a final, short consultation. This consultation was held between 26 June and 7 August 2014 and included a set of draft regulations. It asked, in particular, for new or additional information since the previous full public consultation which the Department of Health ran in 2012.
The regulations that will be laid are consistent with those published in the Department of Health’s 2014 consultation, although some technical amendments have been required.
If approved by Parliament, the regulations will be made and will specify requirements for the retail packaging of cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco, and requirements for the appearance of individual cigarettes. They will specify the use of standard colours for all external and internal packaging and only permit specified text in a standard typeface.
In due course, the Department of Health will publish the summary report of the 2014 consultation which will summarise the main themes and issues arising from the consultation.