Public Consultation on smoking and vaping
The government launched a public consultation to seek views from teenagers and adults on its plans to create a smoke-free generation and curb vaping use by young people.
![Young male vaping](/sites/healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk/files/styles/article_main_image/public/pexels-ruslan-alekso-1005486.jpg?itok=lhrZDJgr)
Key questions in the public consultation
The government seeks feedback from people aged 13 and up, via an online survey, whether they back plans to:
- make it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 (turning 14 this year) to ever be sold tobacco products
- make it offence for older people to buy tobacco for the age group to be covered by the new law
- include all types of tobacco products (such as shisha)
- restrict the flavours (such as sweets and fruits) of vapes and views on how (such as by banning references to these flavours in vape ads or removing them as ingredients)
- restrict vapes being on display in shops and put them out-of-view like cigarettes (and whether there should be an exception for vaping shops)
- ban cartoons, characters, animals and other child-friendly imagery from vape packaging, or ban any imagery apart from the name and logo of the product
- ban or restrict the sale of disposable vapes
- increase the price of vapes to deter children from buying them
- allow local authorities to issue on-the-spot fines to retailers who sell tobacco or vapes to under-age people (and what the level of these fines should be).
The consultation closes on 6 December 2023.