Five per cent of 11-year-olds in England have tried e-cigarettes at least once, according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre. However, smoking rates continue to decline.

The report, Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England, 2014, is based on interviews with about 6,000 children. Awareness of e-cigarettes increased from 80 per cent of 11-year-olds to 93 per cent of 15-year-olds.

Five and 12 per cent of 11 and 12-year-olds had tried e-cigarettes, increasing to 20, 30 and 35 per cent of 13, 14 and 15-year-olds respectively. At 15 years of age, just 2 per cent of boys and 3 per cent of girls used e-cigarettes regularly (at least once a week).

Most e-cigarette users smoked cigarettes: 89 and 76 per cent of regular and occasional smokers respectively had tried e-cigarettes with 17 and 15 per cent of regular cigarette smokers using e-cigarettes regularly and occasionally. One per cent of never smokers and 7 per cent of those who tried smoking once occasionally used e-cigarettes; 2 per cent of those who tried smoking once were regular users.

Eighteen per cent of pupils had tried smoking at least once. “This is the lowest level since the survey began in 1982 and continues the decline since 2003, when 42 per cent of pupils had ever used cigarettes,” the authors note.

In 2014, 3 per cent of pupils smoked at least one cigarette a week compared to 10 per cent in 2002. Four per cent of girls and 3 per cent of boys were regular smokers in 2014. Among regular smokers, boys smoked an average of 34.6 cigarettes in the last week, compared with 29.0 cigarettes among girls.