§ Mr. ColvinTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his latest estimate of the annual cost to the National Health Service of treating smoking-related diseases; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreemanIt is not possible to estimate these costs accurately, but they may be of the order of £500 million each year. This figure relies on the proportion of mortality from different diseases attributed to smoking. These "attributability factors" are applied to the NHS expenditure on treating these diseases to derive a cost for smoking to the NHS.