Written Questions: Nicotine Product Packaging

Lord Moylan: To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence from other countries, if any, they have considered when evaluating the effect of standardised packaging requirements for nicotine pouches on rates of youth uptake.

This question was grouped with the following question(s) for answer:

1. To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence from other countries, if any, they have considered when evaluating the effect of standardised packaging requirements for heated tobacco products on rates of youth uptake.

   
   

2. To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence from other countries, if any, they have considered when evaluating the effect of standardised packaging requirements for vape products on rates of youth uptake.

   
   

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of mHealth and Social Care (Lady Merron): On 10 July 2026, the Government launched a United Kingdom-wide consultation on proposals to reduce the appeal and availability of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, particularly to children and young people. The consultation includes proposals for plain, white packaging for vaping and nicotine products, aligning existing tobacco display restrictions across relevant products, restricting the appearance of vaping and heated tobacco devices, and extending existing tobacco packaging requirements to other tobacco products and tobacco-related devices. The Government will carefully consider all consultation responses before making any final policy decisions.

Internationally, some countries have introduced packaging requirements for vapes and/or nicotine pouches, including Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, and Israel. As these policies have only recently been implemented, there is currently limited evidence on their evaluation. However, research by University College London and Kings College London has found, for example, that plain vape packaging reduced the appeal of vapes to young people without putting off adults who smoke. The proportion of young people who thought their friends would want to try a vape fell from approximately half, or 53%, with branded packaging to about a third, or 38%, with plain packaging, and to around a quarter, or 27%, when flavour descriptions were also limited.