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NOTICE PAPER NO. 2666
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 2 APRIL 2024
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Ang Wei Neng
MP for West Coast GRC
Question No. 5869
To ask the Minister for Health (a) for each year from 2021 to 2023, what is the number of vaping feedback received by the Health Science Authority (HSA) from the public, educational institutions, Police and the Central Narcotics Bureau, respectively; (b) what is the size of HSA’s enforcement team dedicated to vaping enforcement; (c) what is the number of summons on vaping offences issued by HSA in the last three years; and (d) how many summons are issued in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies.
Answer
1 The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) received 1,700, 1,500 and 2,070 vaping-related feedback from the public and through other agencies in 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. We do not have readily available data on the breakdown of the feedback sources.
2 We are taking a multi-agency collaborative approach to enforcement. Hence, while HSA is primarily a scientific agency with a modestly-sized enforcement team, it is supplemented by outsourcing and enforcement support from other agencies such as the National Environment Agency, National Parks Board, and Immigration & Checkpoints Authority. Our schools also take an active approach to prevent students from picking up the habit of vaping.
3 There were about 7,600, 5,600 and 8,000 vaping-related offences in 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. Of the vaping-related offences, about 4,700, 5,000, 7,900 were purchase, use and possession offences in the same three years. Cases which require a Notice of Composition to be issued are handled by HSA.