Closed call for evidence

Standardised packaging for all tobacco products

Published 5 November 2024

Introduction

Reducing the harms caused by smoking

Smoking is the single most entirely preventable cause of ill-health and death, and it exacerbates inequality and poverty. Nationally, the proportion of adults who smoke is now the lowest on record at around 12% (according to the Office for National Statistics report Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2023), but in some parts of the UK prevalence is as high as around 22%.

Mortality rates attributed to smoking in the most deprived local authorities (available at Fingertips Smoking Profile) are more than double that in the least deprived.

We have been clear that prevention will always be better, and cheaper, than a cure. So we must take preventative public health measures to tackle the biggest killers and support people to live longer, healthier lives.

To help us achieve these objectives, the UK government and the devolved governments are committed to reducing the harms caused by tobacco and to create a smoke-free UK.

Creating a smoke-free UK

We have an ambition to create a smoke-free UK. Our approach to this is twofold.

Firstly, through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we are legislating to create the first smoke-free generation, gradually ending the sale of tobacco products across the country. We are also reducing the harms of passive smoking by extending smoke-free places to other outdoor spaces. This will break the cycle of addiction and disadvantage, and protect children, families and vulnerable people from the harms of tobacco.

Secondly, we are supporting smokers to quit in a number of ways, including:

• funding for local stop smoking services
• stop smoking campaigns
• the national smoke-free pregnancy incentive scheme

Quitting smoking presents many individual benefits. The Royal College of Physicians report Hiding in plain sight notes that someone quitting before turning 30 could add 10 years to their life. And the NHS quit smoking website notes that after just one year of quitting smoking, the risk of heart attack halves compared to a smoker’s. There are also financial benefits - calculations on the costs of smoking made in 2024 show that the average smoker could save up to £48 a week (around £2,500 a year) by quitting smoking.

Mandating quit information messages inside tobacco packaging

We previously pledged to legislate to require tobacco companies to include information on tobacco packaging that dispels the myth that smoking reduces stress and anxiety. Today, we have published our response to the consultation on mandating quit information messages inside tobacco packaging. As set out in the response, we intend to mandate pack inserts in 2 phases.

In the first phase, we will legislate to mandate pack inserts in cigarette packets and hand rolling tobacco packaging. The packaging of these products is already subject to standardised packaging regulations. As this will have implications for the packaging design of cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco, we will engage with relevant stakeholders and we will consult on the final specifications before laying legislation in Parliament.

In the second phase, we will look to extend the legislation on pack inserts to cover all tobacco products, tobacco related devices, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products. To do this, we will first consider introducing more stringent packaging requirements for the different product types wherever possible.

Standardising packaging for all tobacco products

Overview of this call for evidence

To begin the second phase, we are running this call for evidence on standardising packaging for all tobacco products, which also considers issues for the potential introduction of pack inserts to these products. After we have gathered this evidence, we will publish a further consultation on exploring further requirements on packaging and requiring pack inserts with:

• all tobacco products
• tobacco related devices
• cigarette papers
• herbal smoking products

The UK government and devolved governments will continue to work together to develop proposals on a 4-nation basis. Any required regulations will be made UK-wide with agreement from the devolved governments. So this call for evidence seeks information from across the UK, as well as international examples and evidence.

Current packaging requirements

The UK is a global leader in tobacco control and our legislation is one of the most comprehensive in the world, as confirmed by the Tobacco Control Scale. The following tobacco packaging regulations are already in place:

• The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 (SPOT)
• The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR)

Under SPOT, both cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco are already subject to the most stringent regulations, including standardised packaging (specified packet shape, material and colour) and minimum amount within packs and appearance requirements.

Under TRPR, all tobacco products must include a text health warning. And cigarettes, hand rolling tobacco, certain cigars and cigarillos, pipe tobacco and waterpipe products must have a combined picture and health text warning. Packaging requirements do not apply to tobacco related devices (such as devices to heat tobacco) or cigarette papers. These packaging requirements only apply to retail packaging, which is packaging that is (or is intended to be) presented for sale to consumers.

Evidence for further action on standardised packaging

Evidence on standardised packaging suggests it:

• improves the effectiveness of health warnings
• reduces attractiveness to young people
• reduces smoking uptake in children

Research into the impact of standardised packaging of tobacco products also shows that:

• standardised packaging can have a significant effect on the likelihood of becoming a smoker
• smokers are influenced by standardised packaging, minimum pack sizes and other measures

Research on trends in exclusive non-cigarette tobacco smoking (people who use tobacco but never smoke cigarettes) shows it has increased fivefold in the last decade in England. The research also found the rise in prevalence was most pronounced among younger adults, as shown in table 1.

Table 1: prevalence of exclusive non-cigarette tobacco smoking in England

Age (years)	September 2013 (%)	September 2023 (%)
18	0.19	3.21
25	0.24	2.61
35	0.31	1.97
45	0.38	1.53
55	0.44	1.26
65	0.46	1.09

The use of tobacco products are shown to exacerbate health inequalities. For example, some forms of chewing or smokeless tobacco, such as paan, are common with people from South Asian backgrounds. Many forms of chewing tobacco are commonly used by non-smokers and these products cause serious harm to health. Research on smokeless tobacco in East London found that the prevalence of chewing tobacco was high in South Asian women. So it is important to consider the impact that not having standardised packaging for these products may have on different communities.

International examples

Globally, standardised packaging is becoming a common tobacco control tool and has been adopted by other countries. Article 11 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) requires that measures are adopted to ensure health warnings and messages are large, clear and visible on tobacco products. Measures to do this can include ensuring packaging for all tobacco products is standardised.

Standardisation can include:

• using health warnings
• preventing packaging that is misleading
• implementing plain packaging

Other nations have adopted different approaches to the standardisation of packaging of tobacco products.

In 2011, Australia became the first country to introduce standardised packaging legislation for all tobacco products through the Tobacco Plain Packaging Regulations 2011, with specific regulations relating to different tobacco products. This included the provision that packaging must be a drab brown colour as well as making restrictions as to how the branding appears on packaging, specifying the font style and size. After Australia implemented standardised packaging for tobacco products, analysis of the association between plain packaging and quitline calls suggests that this intervention increased quitline calls.

In 2021, New Zealand introduced standardised packaging legislation for all tobacco products through the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Regulations 2021. This included the provision that packaging must be a drab brown colour as well as specifying the font style and colour.

A summary of Canada’s standardised packaging legislation shows that it applies to all tobacco products. By 2023, the Government of Canada’s Tobacco products regulations page confirmed that they were the first country to introduce regulations requiring the display of health warnings directly on all tobacco products. This also included the provision that packaging must be a drab brown colour. After Canada implemented standardised packaging regulations, the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC) survey on plain packaging for tobacco products in Canada found that there was a significant increase in the percentage of smokers who found their cigarette pack ‘not at all appealing’.

Objectives of this call for evidence

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is leading this call for evidence, with agreement and partnership with the devolved governments, to identify opportunities to standardise packaging, form and content regulations of tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products. Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

We are particularly interested in evidence of:

• prevalence and use of tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products
• health harms of tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products
• what packaging tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products are typically sold in (for example colour, branding, warnings and pack size)
• examples of pack inserts in the packaging of tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products
• examples of standardised packaging for tobacco products and cigarette papers (including international examples)
• the impact of standardising packaging on use and health
• the impact of standardised packaging to businesses, the environment and enforcement

Types of product in scope of this call for evidence

All tobacco and herbal smoking products are harmful to health, regardless of the form they take. The following list is not exhaustive, but the main types of products we will be covering in this call for evidence are:

• cigars
• cigarillos
• pipe (sometimes known as ‘shag’) tobacco
• waterpipe tobacco products (such as shisha)
• nasal tobacco (such as snuff)
• chewing tobacco (such as paan)
• herbal smoking products
• heated tobacco including heated tobacco devices and other novel products
• other tobacco products (products placed on the market before 19 May 2014 that are not covered above, such as blunts)
• cigarette papers

Tobacco industry declaration

The UK is a party to the WHO FCTC and so has an obligation to protect the development of public health policy from the vested interests of the tobacco industry. To meet this obligation, we ask all respondents to disclose whether they have any direct or indirect links to, or receive funding from, the tobacco industry.

The call for evidence

In the following sections we set out the current evidence base for the products included in the scope of this call for evidence. This is followed by questions seeking further evidence to inform future policy decisions on packaging requirements, including for pack inserts.

There are questions for each section and you do not need to answer all the questions in this call for evidence. Please focus on the areas that you are able to give us evidence for. You will be able to skip sections in the online questionnaire if you want to.

While DHSC is leading this call for evidence across the UK, we also welcome international examples and evidence.

General points or evidence

This call for evidence asks you to provide evidence about specific tobacco products. Before moving on to questions about specific products, this first section gives you an opportunity to share any general points or evidence.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any general points or evidence on standardised packaging of tobacco products. (optional)

Provide any international evidence and examples of standardised packaging of tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products, and their impact on public health outcomes. (optional)

Provide any evidence and examples of pack inserts in the packaging of tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products, and their impact on public health outcomes. (optional)

Provide evidence of wider impacts of standardised packaging of tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products, such as on the environment, enforcement authorities, illicit trade. (optional)

Cigars

A cigar is intended to be smoked as is and is usually either made up of a roll of tobacco (or tobacco and another substance) wrapped in paper or reconstituted tobacco.

According to ITC UK survey data from August to December 2022, among adults who have smoked over the last 2 years or currently use vapes, heated tobacco products or oral nicotine products, 5.7% have smoked a cigar in the past 30 days.

Tobacco smoke from cigars leads to the same types of diseases as cigarette smoke. Research on the effects of cigar smoking found that cigar smokers compared to non-smokers have a greater risk of:

• cancer
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• cardiovascular disease

A study on pipe and cigar smoking in middle-aged British men estimates that compared to non-smokers cigar smokers have:

• a 40% greater risk of all-cause mortality
• almost 3 times the chance of smoking-related cancers

Currently, large cigars and individually wrapped cigars are not required to display combined health warnings (picture and health text warnings). All cigar packaging is required to have a general health warning stating ‘Smoking kills - quit now’ and a text warning. The current packaging of cigars varies greatly with products sold individually, in small packages or in large boxes.

We are aware that there are products currently available that are technically cigars, but closely resemble cigarettes. For example, certain cigarette brands have variants that are technically cigars as the paper is made from tobacco leaf. Consequently, they can be sold in branded 10-packs with flavours that are prohibited for cigarettes.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of cigars in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of cigars. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how cigars are currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of cigars on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and so on). (optional)

Cigarillos

Cigarillos are a diverse category covering cigars with a unit weight of 3 grams or less. Some cigarillos resemble cigarettes with a tobacco wrapping.

According to ITC UK survey data from August to December 2022, 4.6% of adults who currently smoke or quit in the past 2 years, or currently use vapes, heated tobacco products or oral nicotine products, have smoked cigarillos in the past 30 days.

According to research on the effects of cigarillo smoking, cigarillos are likely to expose users to similar toxicants as cigarettes. The profile of harm is likely to depend upon how they are used and people who inhale the smoke are likely to have similar patterns of harm as cigarette smokers. There is some evidence of higher exposure to nicotine and carbon monoxide, and this would be likely to increase the acute harms experienced by users.

Individually wrapped cigarillos are not required to have combined health warnings. Cigarillo packaging is required to have a general health warning stating ‘Smoking kills - quit now’ and a text warning. Unlike cigarettes, cigarillos are allowed to be sold in packets of 10 and with menthol and other flavours. They can also be sold separately.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of cigarillos in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of cigarillos. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how cigarillos are currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of cigarillos on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and so on). (optional)

Pipe tobacco

Pipe (sometimes known as ‘shag’) tobacco is exclusively intended for use in a pipe.

According to ITC UK survey data from August to December 2022, 2.3% of adults who currently smoke or quit in the past 2 years, or currently use vapes, heated tobacco products or oral nicotine products, have smoked pipe tobacco in the past 30 days.

Pipe smoking is harmful to health. Research on cigarette, cigar and pipe use and mortality risk found current pipe smokers that exclusively smoke pipes have a 50% elevated risk of dying from a tobacco-related cancer (including bladder, oesophagus, larynx, lung, oral cavity and pancreas) compared to non-smokers.

Pipe tobacco packaging is required to have a combined health warning as well as a general warning stating ‘Smoking kills - quit now’ and an information warning consisting of the text ‘Tobacco smoke contains over 70 substances known to cause cancer’. It is typically sold loose in pouches or in tins.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of pipe tobacco in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of pipe tobacco. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how pipe tobacco is currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of pipe tobacco on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and so on). (optional)

Waterpipe tobacco products

Waterpipe tobacco (for example shisha) is a tobacco product that can be smoked by a water pipe. Shisha (also known as hookah) is where specially prepared tobacco or herbal products are burned to produce smoke. This bubbles through a bowl of water and into a long hose-like pipe to be breathed in.

According to ITC UK survey data from August to December 2022, 3.4% of adults who currently smoke or quit in the past 2 years, or currently use vapes, heated tobacco products or oral nicotine products, have used water pipe tobacco in the past 30 days.

There is a perception that shisha is less harmful and less addictive than regular cigarettes. However, a review on waterpipe smoking and cancer shows that shisha tobacco smoking causes cancer, and a review of waterpipe smoking on cardiovascular and respiratory health outcomes shows shisha tobacco smoking causes respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease. Research on the health effects of second-hand waterpipe smoke found that shisha tobacco causes exceptionally high exposure to harmful second-hand smoke. Shisha tobacco is addictive as it contains nicotine.

Waterpipe tobacco packaging is required to have a combined health warning as well as a general warning stating ‘Smoking kills - quit now’ and an information warning consisting of the text ‘Tobacco smoke contains over 70 substances known to cause cancer’. Shisha tobacco can be bought in a range of sizes from small pouches to large 1kg containers. In shisha bars, end customers do not see the full packaging as the tobacco is added to the waterpipe by staff members.

Shisha has traditionally been used to smoke tobacco in the Middle East. Recent research on tobacco and ethnic minorities showed that shisha had been tried by:

• 27% of people from other or mixed ethnicity
• 28% of people from South Asian ethnicities
• 29% of people from black, African or Caribbean ethnicities
• 12% of people from white ethnicities

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of waterpipe tobacco in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of waterpipe tobacco products. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how waterpipe tobacco is currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of waterpipe tobacco on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, and so on). (optional)

Nasal tobacco

Nasal tobacco is a smokeless tobacco product that can be consumed through the nose. An example is snuff which is a semi-moist tobacco product. Nasal snuff is thought to be the oldest form of tobacco use in the UK but is now largely obsolete.

Like other forms of tobacco, snuff contains chemicals that can cause cancer. A 2019 study on the nasal intake of tobacco found that there is evidence that nasal snuff use leads to nasal obstruction and irritation.

Nasal tobacco is not required to have a combined health warning. All nasal tobacco is required to have a health warning consisting of the text ‘This tobacco product damages your health and is addictive’. Nasal tobacco is typically sold in tins or tubs.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of nasal tobacco in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of nasal tobacco. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how nasal tobacco is currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of nasal tobacco on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and so on). (optional)

Chewing tobacco

Chewing tobacco (for example paan) is a smokeless tobacco product that is exclusively intended for the purpose of chewing.

According to ITC UK survey data from August to December 2022, 4.6% of adults who currently smoke or quit in the past 2 years, or currently use vapes, heated tobacco products or oral nicotine products, have used oral tobacco such as chewing tobacco at least once a month. However, research found that some forms of chewing tobacco are more commonly used by people from certain backgrounds, for example, paan use is common with people from South Asian backgrounds. Also, a survey on smokeless tobacco products found that 9% of men and 7% of women from South Asian backgrounds are current users of smokeless tobacco products, with 24% of men and 18% of women reporting that they have ever used smokeless tobacco products.

Chewing tobacco users have increased risk of:

• cancer, particularly of the mouth and neck (according to a review on the association of smokeless tobacco with oral cancer)
• cardiovascular disease (according to research on the acute effects of tobacco chewing)
• periodontal disease (according to research on the effects of tobacco chewing on oral health)

Chewing tobacco packaging is not required to have a combined health warning. All chewing tobacco packaging is required to have a health warning consisting of the text ‘This tobacco product damages your health and is addictive’. Chewing tobacco can be bought in packaging or loose and we are aware that packaging often does not comply with UK regulations.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of chewing tobacco in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of chewing tobacco. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how chewing tobacco is currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of chewing tobacco on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and so on). (optional)

Herbal smoking products

A herbal smoking product is a product consisting wholly or partly of herbs and other vegetable matter and intended to be smoked. Herbal smoking products do not contain tobacco.

Herbal smoking products do not contain nicotine, but a review comparing herbal cigarettes to tobacco shows they do expose the consumer to carcinogenic (cancer-causing) and mutagenic (gene-changing) compounds and gases including carbon monoxide.

All herbal smoking products’ packaging is required to carry a health warning consisting of the text ‘Smoking this product damages your health’.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of herbal smoking products in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of herbal smoking products. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how herbal smoking products are currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of herbal smoking products on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and so on). (optional)

Heated tobacco and devices and other novel tobacco products

Most novel tobacco products in the UK are heated tobacco. Heated tobacco or ‘heat-not-burn’ tobacco is a tobacco stick that is inserted into a device that heats the tobacco, releasing an aerosol. Heated tobacco is different to a conventional cigarette in that it is heated rather than combusted and heated to a lower temperature. Heated tobacco is different to vapes because it contains tobacco.

Trends in electronic cigarette use in England shows regular use of heated tobacco products in 2024 remains very low at under 1%. According to ITC UK survey data from August to December 2022, 5.6% of adults who currently smoke or quit in the past 2 years, or currently use vapes, heated tobacco products or oral nicotine products, have used heated tobacco at least monthly.

The Committee on Toxicology’s Statement on the toxicological evaluation of novel heat-not-burn tobacco products (PDF, 232KB) found clear toxicity from heated tobacco, and that the aerosol generated by heated tobacco also contains carcinogens. There will be some risk to the health of anyone using these products. Unlike vapes, there is no evidence that heated tobacco supports smoking cessation.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of heated tobacco and devices and other novel tobacco products in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of heated tobacco and devices and other novel tobacco products. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how heated tobacco and devices and other novel tobacco products are currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of heated tobacco and devices and other novel tobacco products on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and so on). (optional)

Other tobacco products

Other tobacco products are products placed on the market before 19 May 2014 that are not covered above. This includes blunts, which are pre-rolled tubes for hand rolled cigarettes. They may be made from hemp or tobacco.

Other tobacco products such as blunts are required to have packaging that has a combined health warning as well as a general warning stating ‘Smoking kills - quit now’ and an information warning consisting of the text ‘Tobacco smoke contains over 70 substances known to cause cancer’.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of other tobacco products in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of other tobacco products. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how other tobacco products are currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of other tobacco products on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and so on). (optional)

Cigarette papers

Cigarette papers includes anything intended to be used for encasing tobacco products or herbal smoking products for the purpose of enabling them to be smoked. Burning cigarette papers with their bleaches and dyes adds to the volume of smoke and the range of toxicants in the smoke. Research on cigarette smoking, based on the type of tobacco and rolling paper used, found that they contribute additional risks to smokers. 

There are no requirements for cigarette paper packaging to have health warnings.

Standardised packaging can include the use of health warnings, preventing packaging that is misleading and implementing plain packaging.

Questions

Provide any evidence on the current prevalence or use of cigarette papers in the UK. (optional)

Provide any evidence on the health harms of cigarette papers. (optional)

Provide any evidence on how cigarette papers are currently sold, such as branding or pack sizes. (optional)

Provide any evidence of the impact of standardised packaging of cigarette papers on businesses (retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and so on). (optional)

Personal information

We are collecting some personal information. These questions are optional and will only appear once. You can read more about the personal information we’re collecting, as well as your rights as a respondent under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), in the privacy notice below.

How to respond

You can respond to this call for evidence by completing the online survey on standardised packaging for all tobacco products.

The call for evidence will be open for 12 weeks. Send your response by 11:59pm on 28 January 2025.

Next steps

After a review of responses, we will set out the opportunities we identified through this call for evidence to ensure consistency of packaging, form and content regulations of all tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products. We will aim to publish a response 12 weeks after the closing date.

Privacy notice

Introduction

This notice sets out how we will use the information collected through this call for evidence, as well as your rights as a respondent under the UK GDPR.

Data controller

DHSC is the data controller.

What information we collect about you

When you respond to the call for evidence online, we will collect information on:

• whether you are responding as an individual member of the public or on behalf of an organisation
• the name of your organisation and where your organisation operates (if you are responding on behalf of an organisation)
• what sector you work in
• what the main focus of your work is

We also ask for some personal information, which we will collect if you choose to respond. This includes:

• your age within an age band
• what nation of the UK you live in
• your sex
• your gender identity
• your email address
• your IP address

Please do not include any other personal information in your responses to free text questions in the survey.

How we use your information

We collect your information as part of the call for evidence process:

• for statistical purposes, for example to understand how representative the results are and whether views and experiences vary across organisations and demographics
• so that DHSC can contact you for further information about your response
• to reduce the likelihood of individuals being able to submit multiple responses

If you have given consent, DHSC can contact you to allow you to amend or delete your response or to send you a reminder before the call for evidence closes if you have not submitted your final response.

Tobacco industry declaration

In accordance with Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC, all responses given by the tobacco industry to this call for evidence will be published (in line with this privacy notice).

Legal basis for processing your information

The legal basis for processing your information is to perform a task carried out in the public interest, or in the exercise of the controller’s official authority. In this case we are asking the public to provide evidence to answer a range of questions about standardised packaging of tobacco products to support the objectives of the UK government.

Who your information may be shared with

Responses to the call for evidence may be seen by:

• DHSC officials running the standardised packaging call for evidence process
• officials from the UK and other government departments who will be reviewing the call for evidence responses
• DHSC’s third-party supplier (SocialOptic), who is responsible for running and hosting the online survey

International data transfers and storage locations

Storage of data by DHSC is provided by secure computing infrastructure on servers located in the European Economic Area. DHSC platforms are subject to extensive security protections and encryption measures.

Storage of data by SocialOptic is provided by secure servers located in the UK.

How long we keep your information

We will hold your personal information for up to one year after the call for evidence closes. Anonymised information will be kept indefinitely.

We will ask SocialOptic to securely delete the information held on their system one year after the call for evidence closes.

How we protect your information and keep it secure

DHSC uses a range of technical, organisational and administrative security measures to protect any information we hold in our records from:

• loss
• misuse
• unauthorised access
• disclosure
• alteration
• destruction

We have written procedures and policies that are regularly audited and reviewed at a senior level.

SocialOptic is Cyber Essentials certified. This is a government backed scheme that helps organisations protect themselves against the most common cyber attacks.

Your rights

By law, you have a number of rights and processing your data does not take away or reduce these rights, under the UK GDPR and the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

You have the right to:

• ask for and receive copies of information about you
• get information about you corrected if you think it’s inaccurate
• limit how your information is used, for example you can ask for it to be restricted if you think it’s inaccurate
• object to your information being used
• get information deleted

Not all of these are absolute rights and will depend on a number of factors, including the lawful basis relied upon for processing.

Contact us or make a complaint

We will always try to respond to concerns or queries that you have about your data.

If you are unhappy about how your information is being used, or if you want to complain about how your data is used as part of this call for evidence, you should email data_protection@dhsc.gov.uk or write to:

Data Protection Officer
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU

If you are still not satisfied, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can find out how to contact them at the ICO website. Their postal address is:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF