Proposed Australian vaping restrictions will be examined by the British government as it considers measures to protect children from vaping in the UK.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the government was "open" to taking more steps to protect children from vaping.

He said he was keen to learn lessons on vaping restrictions from Australia - where vapes will be banned without a prescription.

Barclay told the House of Common's Health and Social Care Committee he was examining the controls on vaping in Australia to see whether any "lessons" could be learned.

"I had a meeting with a leading Australian figure this morning in terms of some of the lessons around the vaping industry in Australia, and how we can look at what has been done there and are there any lessons that we can share with each other," he said.

Barclay said health officials were keen to strike a balance to ensure smokers could use the products to help them kick the habit.

Dr Caroline Johnson, an MP on the committee, said she had "huge concerns" about children vaping.

"All these colours and flavours like 'unicorn milkshake' cannot possibly be designed for an adult middle-aged smoker to quit," she said.

Barclay said the HM Revenue and Customs agency would publish an updated illicit tobacco strategy and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had pledged to close a loophole that allows the vaping industry to give free samples of vapes to children in England.

"There's a recognition in the fact that we've been having an annual review since 2014 ... that vaping is not risk-free, that is it does pose potential risks and those are not clear," he said.

"I think the current view of the department is that those risks are a fraction of the risks of smoking cigarettes but clearly it is an area where the data is evolving and people are learning more about the risks specific to vaping itself.

"What is coming through in the debate is particularly the concern in terms of the uptake (among) children and vaping and the way that products are being marketed in a way that particularly looks like it's targeted at children and that is something (health minister) Neil O'Brien has been looking at in the context of the call for evidence that closed last week.

"So again, we've announced some initial measures on that ... but we're also open to looking at more and that is something we're working through."

Leading paediatricians have called on the government to ban disposable vapes, warning youth vaping was "fast becoming an epidemic among children".

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health warned e-cigarettes were "not a risk-free product and can be just as addictive, if not more so than traditional cigarettes".