The plain tobacco packaging consultation will now be available in other languages following a successful retailer-led campaign.

Members of the Tobacco Retailers’ Alliance (TRA) were unhappy that the documentation was only available in English and Welsh.

The TRA had written to the Department of Health to explain that many independent retailers responding to the consultation did not speak English or Welsh as a first language, and could be put off from responding as a result.

Welcoming the decision to now make documents available in Urdu, Gujarati and Tamil, Blackburn-based independent retailer Suleman Khonat said: “However, it is a mystery why these versions were not available on the website from the start of the consultation in the way the English and Welsh versions were. Those retailers who speak Urdu, Gujarati and Tamil now have only four weeks to reply to the consultation whereas English and Welsh speakers get 12 weeks – hardly the greatest illustration of equality.”

The consultation on plain standardised tobacco packaging closes on July 10.

Retailers who would like to receive versions of the standardised packaging documents in Urdu, Gujarati and Tamil must email the Department of Health at this address: tobaccopacks@dh.gsi.gov.uk . They can also be dowloaded from the TRA website www.the-tra.org.uk.

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