Hansard

In Scotland, more than 8,000 lives a year are cut short by diseases that are caused by smoking. Large parts of the harm that is caused by cancers, cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease are caused by smoking—harm that is entirely preventable. I have personal experience of that harm with one of my grandparents, who was advised to stop smoking just before I was born. He was told that, if he did not stop, he would not live to see his grandchild. Thankfully, he did, and I have 16 years of precious memories.

We want to make it easier for people never to start smoking. Scotland has a range of world-leading tobacco control measures. In March 2006 this was the first Parliament in the United Kingdom to introduce a ban on smoking in indoor places and, 18 years later, smoking rates are at an all-time low and cigarette smoking among children and young people is at its lowest level in 32 years. But still, on average one person in Scotland dies every 63 minutes from a tobacco-related illness. We must continue to take action to ensure that people in Scotland live longer healthier lives.

I take this opportunity to extend my deepest sympathy to all those affected by the loss of a loved one, friend or colleague through smoking, who remind us how essential it is that we continue to take action to reduce the prevalence of smoking. Although there has been a reduction in tobacco use, there has been a notable increase in people, particularly young people, using vapes. The “Health Behaviour in School-aged Children” Scotland 2022 survey found that almost one in five young people reported having used a vape at least once in their lifetime. Though vape products are one of a range of tools that can be used to support smoking cessation, they should never be used by young people or adult non-smokers. The long-term harms of these products are unknown, and we must remain cautious even if recent evidence shows their effectiveness as a cessation tool.

Our tobacco and vaping framework was launched last November and sets out the road map to our 2034 target of a tobacco-free Scotland. A key strand of the framework is the work that has taken place across the four nations on creating a tobacco-free generation and tackling youth vaping. I am pleased to be able to update members on that work today.

The four-nations consultation response was published on 29 January. There was a strong response from residents in Scotland, representing 11 per cent of the nearly 28,000 responses that were received. The majority of responses supported proposals to create a tobacco-free generation. Respondents were also mostly in favour of the proposed measures to tackle youth vaping, particularly by restricting point-of-sale displays and packaging, although, as expected, there was a mix of views on how best to do that.

I thank everyone who responded to the consultation, including those from public health, retail organisations and local authorities. A United Kingdom-wide bill has now been introduced in the UK Parliament, which will take UK-wide measures to change the age of sale for all tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products, so that anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 will never legally be sold those products.

The bill will also amend existing legislation to make it an offence for anyone over 18 to purchase products on behalf of those born on or after 1 January 2009. We have also listened to the views of our stakeholders, and the bill will amend our current legislation to remove existing provisions that make it an offence for a person under 18 to purchase tobacco products. That will ensure that, in line with the rest of the UK, no one is criminalised for their addiction to nicotine. I stress, however, that it remains an offence to sell these products to persons below the age of sale, and retailers will still be required to operate an age verification policy.

The bill introduces powers for Scottish ministers to make provision about tobacco warning notices and to regulate retail displays of vapes and other nicotine products, and it extends existing provisions that are applicable to vapes to other nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches. The bill also introduces powers for the secretary of state to make UK-wide regulations—importantly, with consent from Scottish ministers—regarding the flavours, contents, retail packaging and other product requirements of vapes. As the bill makes provisions that would be within the competence of the Scottish Parliament, we will shortly bring forward a legislative consent memorandum for consideration by this Parliament.

The results of the UK-wide consultation also showed overwhelming support among individuals in Scotland for a ban on the sale and supply of disposable vapes. We are the first Government in the UK to commit to taking action on single-use vapes, as well as the first to publish draft regulations to ban their sale and supply. The Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity published draft regulations on 23 January and consulted on those until 8 March 2024. The general public and businesses will be able to comment on the final version of the proposal and associated impact assessments during a further six-week consultation, which launches in April 2024. A ban is proposed to come into force on 1 April 2025. I am working closely with Ms Slater to ensure that any potential health impacts of a ban are carefully considered. Members have discussed that in the chamber previously, and I welcome those measures.

The UK Government has already set out its intention to consult further on the UK-wide powers to regulate flavours, contents, retail packaging and other product requirements of vapes. We will continue to work collaboratively with the UK Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive as the consultation develops, to ensure, as far as possible, that measures are implemented in a consistent manner across the UK. The Scottish Government will also consult further on powers relating to retail displays of vapes.

Our world-leading measures to increase the age for the sale of tobacco are designed to protect future generations and to create a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034. We want to make it easier for people never to start smoking. It is much easier never to start smoking tobacco or vaping than it is to give them up.

Although this statement is an update following the introduction of UK-wide legislation, it forms part of a wider package of measures that are designed to ensure that we hit our 2034 target and reduce levels of vaping among young people and non-smokers. Under our tobacco and vaping framework, we are progressing actions on existing powers to introduce regulations under our Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016, and we are working to improve our existing tobacco and nicotine vapour product register.

Our “Take hold” marketing campaign aims to educate parents, carers and children about the dangers of vaping and to increase awareness of the harms of nicotine addiction. It has been a huge success, with 84 per cent of campaign recognisers taking action as a result of seeing the campaign. I was delighted to see the “Take hold” adverts used at Sunday’s Scottish Women’s Premier League cup final, which I had the pleasure of attending. The Rangers and Partick Thistle teams and their supporters created a great atmosphere. We have to remember how important those players are as role models.

I am grateful for the opportunity to provide an update on the bold action that is being taken in Scotland and in partnership with Governments across the four nations to protect public health. Those measures are central to our framework, and they represent an opportunity to make a significant generational impact on the future health of Scotland. All the UK’s living chief medical officers and deputy chief medical officers past and present strongly urge members of Parliament from all political parties to support those measures. In the words of Cancer Research UK’s executive director of policy, Dr Ian Walker,

“This legislation is a critical step on the road to creating the first generation free of tobacco, the biggest cause of cancer.”

I will finish with words from our Children’s Parliament that illustrate its ambition to live in a healthier Scotland free from addiction. It said:

“If change happened, it would affect our life and make it better.”

I hope that colleagues in the chamber will continue to be engaged in this important work, heed the words of our Children’s Parliament and help us to achieve our ambition of a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034.