Health Bill

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to bring such an important and indeed historic Bill before the House. The Bill contains a diverse range of provisions aimed at protecting the health of the public both inside and outside of hospital as well as improving the management and efficiency of the NHS. I will start with the smoke-free provisions. We have come a long way in recent years, but smoking is still the principal cause of premature death in England. An estimated 85,000 people die every year from smoking-related illnesses, including lung cancer, respiratory illness and heart disease. The estimated cost to the NHS in England alone of treating people with smoking-related diseases is between £1.4 billion and £1.7 billion per year. Only last week research published in the European Heart Journal showed that the UK spends the highest proportion of its healthcare budget on treating cardiovascular diseases of any country in the European Union. However, we are tackling head on the problem of smoking. We have already banned tobacco advertising. We have strengthened health warnings on cigarette packets and we have introduced NHS stop-smoking programmes that in 2004–05 alone helped almost 300,000 people give up smoking. With this Bill, from the summer of 2007 virtually all workplaces and enclosed public places, including all licensed premises and membership clubs, will be smoke-free. This will be a major step forward. Not only will we be protecting people from the well documented dangers of second-hand smoke, we will be creating an environment in which smokers will find it easier to give up. Of course noble Lords will be well aware of how the smoke-free provisions in the Bill have evolved during its passage through the other place. Indeed, no doubt many of your Lordships will see the changes made by the other place as an interesting reversal of roles. I do not intend to dwell on that point other than to say I hope that this House will respect the divisive—I mean, the decisive—vote—