13. Mr. Michael Jabez FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the annual cost of treatment of smoking-related diseases within the NHS; and what percentage that represents of the annual NHS budget. [122431]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonWe are implementing a comprehensive tobacco programme to help the seven in 10 smokers who want to quit and to prevent people starting. As well as introducing legislation, we are investing £138 million in the national health service stop smoking services over the next three years and £39 million in the next year on prevention.
225WThe most recent estimated cost to the NHS of treating smoking related diseases was for 1997 and was between £1.4 billion and £1.7 billion for England1. As total net NHS expenditure for the year 1996–97 was £33.0 billion, the percentage of expenditure this represents is between 4.2 per cent. and 5.4 per cent.
1"Cost Effectiveness of Smoking Cessation Interventions" by the Health Education Authority, in collaboration with the University of York published in 1997.