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Our Tobacco and Vaping Framework renewed our commitment to cessation services as part of decisive action to reduce smoking rates to ensure we meet our 2034 Tobacco-Free Scotland target.

The Scottish Government are continuing to implement the recommendations from the Public Health Scotland (PHS) Review of Smoking Cessation Services in Scotland and to consider how these important services can continue to develop in the future. This includes the Public Health Action Team on Smoking Cessation, a collaboration between PHS, Scottish Government and NHS Boards, which is supporting the continuous improvement of local smoking cessation services.

The NHS stop smoking service Quit Your Way Scotland offers free expert advice and direct users to local services where they can access a range of support, medications and products.

The Scottish Government’s position is that vapes and other nicotine products are part of a range of possible cessation tools available to existing smokers to help stop tobacco use. They are not without risk and should never be used by children or adult non-smokers.

The Scottish Government has had regular engagement with the UK Government regarding the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill over the last 12 months. The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health met with the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention on 4 November 2024 to discuss the Tobacco and Vapes Bill where she reaffirmed Scottish Government support for this historic piece of legislation and highlighted how it could positively impact health inequalities in Scotland.

The Bill’s subsequent re-introduction on 5 November 2024 followed close collaborative work across the 4-nations over the content of the Bill. Officials across the 4-nations continue to meet regularly to discuss the Bill to ensure coherence and alignment of implementation, where this is possible and appropriate.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is expected to complete its passage within the current UK Parliamentary session (2024-2025). The Bill provides that the changes to the age of sale for tobacco products will come into force on 1 January 2027 and that date would not be impacted by any delay to the Bill passing. When other parts of the Bill come into force depends on when the Bill is passed, and it will not be possible to make any regulations in advance of the Bill coming into force. However, Scottish Government is working with officials across the 4-nations to prepare for implementation and, in the event of any delay, the impact is expected to be minimal. Once the Bill has passed, Parliament will be updated on a confirmed timescale for implementation.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is expected to complete its passage within the current UK Parliamentary session (2024-2025). The Bill provides that the changes to the age of sale for tobacco products will come into force on 1 January 2027. When other parts of the Bill come into force depends on when the Bill is passed, and it will not be possible to make any regulations in advance of the Bill coming into force. However, officials are working across the 4-nations to prepare for implementation. Once the Bill has passed Parliament will be updated on a confirmed timescale for implementation.

As part of our commitment to New Deal for Business, Scottish Government met with the Regulatory Review Group (RRG) on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill earlier this year to ensure that any impact of proposals on business is fully understood and that policy implementation is effective and proportionate while still delivering the beneficial outcomes for population health sought.

When the Bill passes, we will continue to work with the RRG and tobacco and nicotine retailers to support business to prepare for and understand what is required to implement the new measures. The refreshed Tobacco and Vapes retail register which was launched in January 2025 will be our key tool for engagement with retailers as well as a tool to support enforcement.

The Scottish Government provides funding annually to Health Boards for smoking cessation and prevention services. The funding is provided as part of a wider Outcomes Framework allocation, whereby budget is provided to Health Boards to cover a range of outcomes. It is up to Health Boards to decide how much of this funding to allocate to each outcome. The published Scottish Budget for 2025-2026 includes £72.2 million for the Outcomes Framework.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is expected to complete its passage within the current UK Parliamentary session (2024/2025). The Bill explicitly states that the changes to the age of sale for tobacco products will come into force on 1 January 2027. Any changes to this date would require amendments to the Bill and so it is not expected that this date would be impacted by any delay to the Bill passing within this session. Other parts of the Bill will come into force on set periods of time after Royal Assent or by dates to be set in regulations. It will not be possible to make any regulations in advance of the Bill coming into force. However, the Scottish Government is working with officials across the 4-nations to prepare for implementation and, in the event of any delay, the impact is expected to be minimal. Once the Bill has passed, Parliament will be updated on a confirmed timescale for implementation.

The illicit trade of tobacco and vapes falls largely under subject matters which are reserved to the UK Government.

However, the Tobacco and Vapes retail register has been an asset to enforcement authorities in Scotland for over 15 years and a banning order can be granted on the basis of 3 or more relevant enforcement actions, one of these being a conviction for an offence of selling counterfeit goods. Through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, if passed, the retail register will be expanded to cover nicotine products, such as pouches, and herbal smoking products.

Part 5 of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill contains a suite of regulation making powers to enable requirements to be set in relation to product standards, including packaging and features of products, to enable establishment of a registration scheme for products and for information to be provided to support registration and check for compliance with product standards, and for testing of products for quality and safety.

The powers are exercisable by the Secretary of State but any regulations made under Part 5 of the Bill which contain devolved provision require the consent of the Scottish Ministers and my officials will work closely with officials across the other nations in connection with any such regulations.

Scotland level information on costs for each of the years requested is not available. However, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) commissioned Landman Economics to provide updated analysis on costs of smoking which was published in January 2025. This analysis estimated the UK wide productivity costs of smoking in 2024 were £32.777 billion