Health Bill

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his succinct introduction to the Bill. I also thank my noble friend for her trailer, football metaphors included, although in this House, being on the Bench has a rather different meaning. I am tempted to start with the words, ““As I was saying July 2004””. I have a strong sense of déjà vu when I look at some elements of the Bill. The Government claim to have been fighting the battle against MRSA and now VRSA and C. Difficile over the past few years. Every year they use a new set of targets or guidelines or launch a new campaign and assure us that the battle is nearly won in the face of all the available figures. The latest bright idea is a legally binding code of practice incorporated in the Bill. I am extremely sceptical whether the legislation will make the situation any better. This is a basic management and infection control issue in our hospitals. I commend the analysis and prescription of my noble friend Lady Barker in this respect. As regards Part 1, I have no sense of déjà vu, unless you count some of the hyperbole being displayed by some of its opponents and the massed ranks of the Lords and Commons Pipe and Cigar Smokers’ Club, who were present when I was lucky enough to sponsor the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill. Part 1 is the product of the other place at its very best—a bold legislative step to ban smoking in public places, including all pubs and private clubs, taken as a matter of individual judgment by MPs on a free vote. Despite the claims of tobacco company spokesmen and organisations such as FOREST, it is, as the noble Lord, Lord Walton, made clear, no longer a question for serious debate that second-hand smoke is harmful and leads to premature death. The key issue is the estimated number of deaths caused by inhaling other people’s smoke. I listened to the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, with mounting incredulity—his use of statistics was quite extraordinary, and I hope that the Minister will demonstrate the proposition against. The paper in the British Medical Journal by Professor Jamrozik of 1 March 2005 demonstrates that we are talking about a minimum of 600 people a year. That is three times the number killed each year in industrial accidents. There are many other estimates which are much higher. I have seen printed documents—