Chamber and committees

Snus has been banned since 1992.

I agree that education is incredibly important. In four or five local authorities, we have a pilot called project youth, which is also known as the Icelandic model, and it works directly with schools, the parents and the wider community on issues such as health, including the negativities around smoking and the impact that it can have on children’s lives as they grow up.

Moreover, we have, through curriculum for excellence, a lot of teaching on health improvements and on things that can support a person’s health and other things that can have negative health impacts. I am very much old enough to remember the snus that we were talking about earlier, but I also remember how, when I was in primary school and doing a project using advertisements, all the ads were for cigarettes.

That situation has completely changed now. I think that we have made a really important step forward in schools, and it is something that we need to continue. When the Scottish Children’s Parliament was at Cabinet a couple of weeks ago, one of the things that its members had a conversation directly with the cabinet secretary on was reducing the use of vapes, because they felt so strongly and passionately about the issue.

The retail side is handled through our register, which I talked about earlier and which includes shops that stock vapes. With regard to spaces and where people can vape, as I said, we will consult on that once the bill has passed. With regard to displays and flavours, there is UK-wide legislation on that, and we will work with the UK Government on its implementation.

As I said in my opening remarks, between 80 and 90 per cent of people who start smoking do so before they are 21. From my perspective, it is important to recognise that and to recognise the importance of prevention before people start. You raise really important points about the recognition of products. If you go into anywhere that sells tobacco, the grey blinds are pulled down and you cannot see the products. With vapes, there is basically a rainbow of colours and flavours that are very attractive to young people. Evidence would show that flavours such as candy floss, gummy bear and watermelon are there to attract children. That is why it is so important to have UK-wide legislation, because it gives consistency across the four nations for consumers and for retailers.

We are working just now—because it is part of our tobacco and vaping framework, which was launched last year—to ensure that we have a register that is fit for purpose, not only for those of us who are tracking the retail elements of nicotine products but for retailers, to ensure that they get the right information. The investment is going into the register just now. Of the four nations, we are the only one that has a register for tobacco and vapes, and that is very positive.

It is included in the legislation so that it is all in the same legislation and so that there is consistency.

I thank Gillian Mackay for that question and empathise with her experiences. I see the same thing outside hospitals. I am pleased that we are working with Action on Smoking and Health Scotland, which is doing a report on the impact of smoke-free zones outside hospitals, and that work is also being extended to other spaces. However, I have to be clear that we will not be introducing any additional spaces without proper and robust consultation and engagement with all stakeholders and the general public.

I cannot respond with regard to the evidence for banning snus, but I remember very clearly back in the 1990s when it was a problem, and there were a lot of news stories about snus. I remember the impact that it had—mouth cancer, for example. We are looking at tobacco, vapes and other nicotine products. As I said in my introduction, this is positive legislation that looks to stop people before they start and ensure that young people who are born after 1 January 2009 do not have the opportunity to use those nicotine products. Doing that is incredibly important. I do not know whether Ruth Foulis has anything to add in answer to Dr Gulhane’s questions on snus.

There are a number of ways in which people can cease smoking. I am pleased that figures out just today show an increase in the number of people who are using cessation services in the NHS in Scotland. I think that the figure is now over 30,000, which is back to pre-pandemic levels, which is really positive.

There are a variety of approaches and treatments that people can use to stop smoking. Linda Bauld is the expert on that, so I will bring her in.

That provision of the legislation that will be repealed is specific to Scotland. We had consulted and taken advice from other organisations, including ASH Scotland, which felt that it was not appropriate to criminalise someone’s addiction to nicotine or tobacco. That is why that aspect of the legislation will be repealed. As I say, we are the only nation of the four UK nations to have that provision. There is absolutely no change to the legislation in relation to proxy buying for underage people or in relation to retailers selling to underage people. The legislation will change only to remove criminalisation of under 18s.