Hospitality Industry and Retail Trade: Electronic Cigarettes and Tobacco
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Department for Business and Trade has made any assessment of the potential effect of the measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill on (a) restaurants, (b) pubs, (c) small and independent retailers.
Answered by Mrs Sharon Hodgson
The Department published an impact assessment for the Tobacco and Vapes Bill during its parliamentary passage. This included analysis of the expected impact on businesses from the bill measures, including small and micro businesses, retailers, and the hospitality sector.
Broadly, the analysis concluded that the measures in the bill will introduce some cost to business, including familiarisation costs and potential impacts from reduced tobacco, vape, and nicotine product sales and lost profits. We also expect that the bill’s measures will deliver a range of benefits, particularly wider public health benefits. For example, the smoke-free generation policy is expected to deliver significant health benefits to individuals and reductions to the National Health Service, social care, and productivity costs by reducing the number of people taking up smoking. Overall, the estimated net benefit of the smoke-free generation policy is over £30 billion, in 2024 prices, over 30 years.
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