Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Written evidence submission from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) to the Employment Rights Public Bill Committee (TVB05).

I am the Tobacco Dependency Leads at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT).

I am writing to express my concerns over Section 9 of the new proposed Tobacco and Vapes bill, banning the sale of vapes from vending machines.

CPFT installed vending machine in May 2024 to ensure that vapes are available to staff and patients at all times.

Since installation of the vending machines in our Trust we have had over 2400 individual vends. Each vend represents a staff or service user making a positive decision to improve their health.

2400 individual vends in just 6 months represents a saving to the Trust of around £12,000 .

Removing the machines will reduce patient’s independence in buying their own devices while in hospital and will have a financial implication to our Trust, as wards would be expected to fund more vapes.

We also have concerns that a lack of vape provision on our Trust premises may result in patients returning to smoking tobacco.

I ask that you please consider the consequences of this specific section of the bill, and its implications to the health and wellbeing of our service users and staff as well as the financial implications to our Trust

Ben Kingsbury

December 2024