Vaping News

Questions in Parliament

The latest discussion about vaping from Parliament

Share on:
Steve Brine MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care has responded to vape and general tobacco harm-related questions from the ever-keen Jim Shannon, Shadow DUP Spokesperson for Health. The questions covered trade associations, guidance for businesses and smoking cessation.

Given how active Shannon is on this matter, some might wonder why other parties shadow health ministers aren’t as inquisitive? Rarely a month goes by now without Jim Shannon featuring in POTV’s roundup from Parliament.

The first question posed by Shannon was: “whether [Steve Brine] has met with vape product manufacturers in the last 12 months?”

Steve Brine responded: “I met with the Independent British Vape Trade Association on 12 March 2018 to discuss United Kingdom vaping and regulations.”

Shannon followed this up by inquiring: “whether [Steve Brine] plans to issue further guidance to (a) businesses and (b) local authorities in line with Public Health England's advice on vaping in public places and workspaces?”

Brine replied: “There are no plans to do so. Public Health England published advice on the use of e-cigarettes in public places and workplaces in 2016, which is available to access publicly at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-e-cigarettes-in-public-places-and-workplaces.”

Finally, Shannon wanted to know what steps the Department of Health and Social Care is taking to support local stop-smoking services, “which encourage smokers to transition to vaping.”

Brine responded by supplying Shannon with further websites to visit: “Public Health England recommends that all local stop smoking services in England should offer support to smokers who want to use an e-cigarette to stop smoking.”

“Public Health England commissions the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training to produce free online training for healthcare professionals, a briefing for services and a guide for services on working with e-cigarette retailers. These materials are available to view at the following link: http://www.ncsct.co.uk/.”

“The Public Health England ‘E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products: evidence review’ can be viewed at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/e-cigarettes-and-heated-tobacco-products-evidence-review.

Dave Cross avatar

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV
View Articles

Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.

Join the discussion

Product

Parliament Fears Two

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs faced questions from a Conservative MP and, oddly, a member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Politics & Campaigns

Parliament

Andrea Leadsom has been quizzed by Rupa Huq and Derek Thomas about the promotion of vaping and support to those who want to quit

Vaping News

Vaping Has “Substantial Potential”

The UK Parliament Health and Social Care Committee has been told that vaping has ‘substantial potential’ to solve the problem of the harms caused by smoking by Professor Peter Hajek

Vaping News

Trading Standards Welcomes Clarity

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute says it welcomes the “clarity and action from government to tackle youth vaping” with the plan to ban disposable vapes and related announcements