Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:31 pm on 4 October 2022.
Well, Llywydd, let me first of all pay tribute to all of those who have been involved in the smoking cessation campaigns in Wales in recent times. In 2012, we set a target for reducing smoking in Wales—the prevalence of it—to 20 per cent by 2016. We exceeded that; we got to 18 per cent by 2015. We then set another target to get to 16 per cent by 2020. We exceeded that again, and the current level of smoking prevalence in Wales is the lowest it has been ever since these records began, at 13 per cent. So, we undoubtedly have had a very significant success. It's one of the great social changes of my lifetime, I think, to have seen the way in which smoking prevalence has been reduced.
Where e-cigarettes lead to people ceasing the use of tobacco, then, undoubtedly, e-cigarettes are less harmful than conventional cigarettes. Sadly, the evidence is that, for most people who use an e-cigarette, it is as well as, not instead of, a conventional cigarette. Eighty-five per cent in recent studies are dual use, and dual use, I'm afraid, does not eliminate the harm that smoking conventional cigarettes brings. In fact, it adds additional harms, particularly in relation to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. So, on the terms that the Member put it, I agree with her—if we can persuade people to move from conventional cigarettes to e-cigarettes, they are definitely less harmful. The evidence is that we are not succeeding in doing that, and people who believe that adding an e-cigarette into the repertoire and thinking that that's helping them, I'm afraid the evidence there is that it quite definitely doesn't.