Member

I hope the Committee will agree that it would be useful to have such an independent expert panel. In an earlier debate, my noble friend—for these purposes, since she signed the amendment, and I hope that she will contribute interesting remarks on this subject— Lady Fox of Buckley illustrated just how difficult these issues are, particularly in terms of the relationship of perception to behaviour. If I recall correctly, the proportion of smokers who have never vaped but who think, incorrectly, that vaping would be equally or more harmful has risen from 27% to 63% in the past six years. I noted that down at the time when she told us on an earlier group. This is a worrying statistic. It tells us that there are quite profound misperceptions about the potential harm of vaping products and the long-term impacts of nicotine addiction.