§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on how the underspend on anti-smoking initiatives has been spent. [12771]
§ Ms Abbott[holding answer 6 November 2001]: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W.
The 1998 White Paper "Smoking Kills" set out an overall strategy on tobacco control including health education and cessation services.
The commitments we made in that document have been kept under review in the light of experience across the whole programme and changing priorities. In fulfilling our commitment in the NHS Plan, we have made Buproprion (Zyban) and all nicotine replacement therapies available on NHS prescription. This required the addition of substantial sums to the unified budgets to meet the expected cost of this development.
Taking this into account together with the resources made available for smoking cessation services and health education the overall provision for tobacco control measures exceeds the White Paper commitment.