Tobacco: Excise Duties
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to help ensure that tobacco duty contributes to the costs of (a) tobacco control and (b) public health initiatives.
Answered by James Murray
The UK has some of the highest tobacco duty rates in the world, payable at £316.70 per thousand cigarettes, plus 16.5% of the retail price and £412.32 per kilogram for hand rolling tobacco. These have helped to support a significant fall in smoking prevalence over the last 10 years to 11.9%. The Chief Medical Officer considers them a key part of the wider anti-smoking strategy.
The government is also funding more smoking cessation services. This includes providing an additional £70 million per annum for local Stop Smoking Services, working to ensure all NHS hospitals offer 'opt-out' smoking cessation services and delivering the national Smoke-free Pregnancy Financial Incentives scheme and the Swap to Stop scheme.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps tobacco duty rates under review during its Budget process.
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