Health Bill

I am not too sure whether that is the lesson of the Irish Republic. None the less, there is a danger, and no one knows what will happen on day one if exemptions are granted in the way that the Government propose. The Health Committee has obviously considered enforcement. Under the Government’s proposals, enforcement will be more difficult to achieve, more open to misinterpretation and more costly than under a comprehensive ban. The Health Committee went to Ireland for two days, and one thing that jumped out at us when we talked to people there is that the ban was enforced by people who used the pubs, not by people who work in them or own them, or by people whose duty it is to visit pubs occasionally to ensure that they are run properly. The people who went into the pubs had the opportunity to complain if their pubs were not meeting the requirements set down by their legislation. Of course, another issue that has been touched on several times in the debate is health inequalities. Exempt pubs and clubs are more likely to be found in areas where health inequalities already exist. The current proposals are likely to work against meeting the Government’s targets. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, who is not in her place, said in her opening address that health inequality targets are central to Government policy. Some of the information received by the Health Committee would suggest that the proposed exemptions will not help to reduce health inequalities. Most Members have received correspondence from the Local Government Association, whose research shows that in Newcastle 47 per cent. of pubs and clubs would be exempt; in Northamptonshire, 54 per cent. would be exempt; and in Corby, the figure is as high as 85 per cent. Not every pub in my constituency has changed the culture in the way that I explained earlier, and quite a large number of pubs and clubs that are on the wrong end of health inequalities will suffer if the proposal is introduced unchanged.