To ask the Secretary of State for Health

(1) what mechanisms are in place to monitor the use of each smokeless tobacco product which is (a) legally and (b) illegally available;

(2) whether he plans to take steps to seek to reduce the health effects of tobacco products on those adults who continue to use them;

(3) if he will commission a full scientific review of the effects on health of tobacco products which are (a) smoked and (b) not smoked for the purposes of developing his Department's planned tobacco control strategy; and if he will make a statement;

(4) what subjects he plans to include in his Department's tobacco control strategy.

The Government will publish a new tobacco control strategy before the end of this year. This strategy will include action to:

stop the inflow of young people being recruited as smokers assist smokers to quit protect families and communities

The strategy will include plans to reduce harms to health caused by tobacco use.

The Department has not commissioned specific research into the harms of smoked and smokeless tobacco, as the evidence base is already extensive. On smokeless tobacco, we have given particular consideration to the 2008 report of the European Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks titled "Health Effects of Smokeless Tobacco Products".

The supply and marketing of certain forms of smokeless tobacco is prohibited by a European directive. While smokeless tobacco is not used extensively across the population, the Department is able to monitor use through surveys that compare smokeless tobacco use in the UK compared to other countries. In addition, the Department is working in partnership with the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services to enhance the enforcement of smokeless tobacco products with respect tobacco legislation and the payment of relevant taxes and duties.