Lord Lucasasked Her Majesty's Government:
How they intend to demonstrate that banning tobacco advertising, as distinct from any other influence, has had an effect on the prevalence of smoking.
§ Baroness Jay of PaddingtonThe Smee report, published in 1992, states that in other countries, "the banning of advertising was followed by a fall in smoking on a scale which cannot reasonably be attributed to other factors". A copy of the report is available in the Library.
The Government recognise that controlling smoking prevalence requires a wide range of measures if it is to have a lasting impact and it will not, therefore, be possible to identify the influence of the ban alone in the package of measures which will be employed here.