Health Bill

Anyone who is behind any noble Lord who is rollerblading, scooting, cycling or on a tandem is at great hazard, but not necessarily from second-hand smoke. There may be other causes. Regulations made under Clause 5 will set out the descriptions of the vehicles that are to be smoke-free and the circumstances and specified areas in which they are to be smoke-free. The power in subsection (1) will be used to provide for smoke-free business vehicles and smoke-free public transport. That will provide consistency with protection offered in other parts of the Bill from second-hand smoke in enclosed and substantially enclosed public places and workplaces. We must hang on to the definitions of ““enclosed”” and ““substantially enclosed””. They mean that any vehicle open to the public will be smoke-free. Taxis and minicabs will also be required to be smoke-free at all times. It is worth remembering that the vast majority of public transport is already smoke-free, so we expect the impact of the introduction of the legislation on public transport to be minimal. The Government have already clearly stated that private vehicles will be exempted. Vehicles such as rental cars and rental vans will also be exempted. It is a matter for passengers in those cars to decide whether they want to travel with someone who is smoking in a private car. That is their decision. We do not intend to prohibit smoking in all company cars. Where that car is used by only that person for work purposes, we do not intend to capture the vehicle under the clause. It would not be required to be smoke-free. Vehicles used as a place of work or business vehicles, such as delivery vans and post vans, will be smoke-free unless the vehicle is only ever used by and owned by one person. For example, if a delivery lorry is only ever used by one person, he or she would be allowed to smoke there. However, if the lorry were shared—for example, used in the morning by one person who smoked and in the afternoon by another person—smoking would not be permitted at any time, as the second person would be exposed to the risks from second-hand smoke. I draw the Committee’s attention to the fact that we consulted the Road Haulage Association on this issue. In response to the consultation last summer, the association advised that,"““most of our members do have smoking policies that prohibit smoking in shared vehicles””," and that it had no objections to the main aim of the policy to make virtually all enclosed workplaces smoke-free. I should also explain that this clause was amended in the other place so that it does not apply duplicate provisions to the waterborne craft by which the Secretary of State for Transport may make provision by regulations under Section 85 of the Merchant Shipping Act. In other words, the Bill will not cover vessels which fall within the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. The Secretary of State for Transport will make smoke-free provision for vessels, which will be equivalent to those introduced by Chapter 1 of, and Schedules 1 and 2 to, the Health Bill. Government Amendment No. 102 makes regulations made under Clause 5 subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. As currently drafted, these are negative. This amendment has been brought forward following the recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. So, although I have given further reassurances that the power in Clause 5 will not be used to make private vehicles smoke-free, I hope that this amendment will provide further reassurance that no regulations under the clause can now be made without the prior agreement of Parliament. I now turn to Amendments Nos. 27A, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32. Amendment No. 27A would ensure that regulations made under Clause 5 could not be used in relation to vehicles for private use, hired vehicles and business or work vehicles used only by one person at any one time. In relation to private vehicles and hired vehicles, I hope that the reassurances that I have already given and the fact that we have brought forward government Amendment No. 102 to make the regulations affirmative will be sufficient to allay any concerns here. In relation to business vehicles used by only one person at any one time, I reiterate what I said earlier. Such vehicles will be smoke-free unless the vehicle is only ever used by one person and owned by that person. However, if, for example, a lorry were shared at different parts of the day, smoking would not be permitted at any time. Amendment No. 28 is similar to Amendment No. 27A in that it is concerned with whether a vehicle used by no more than one person at a time, even if it is a place of work, is smoke-free. The points that I made in relation to Amendment No. 27A also apply to Amendment No. 28, so I shall not repeat them. Finally, I shall address Amendments Nos. 29 to 32, which seek to amend Clause 5(5). I am unsure whether the noble Earl’s amendments will achieve much in real terms, and I am not convinced that there is any reason to add to the list of vehicles provided within the subsection. In subsection (5), ““vehicle”” is defined to mean every type of vehicle, including those listed. So all vehicles, even those not listed, are vehicles for the purposes of Part 1 of the Bill. Also, the list is not exhaustive and is not intended to include all types of vehicles falling within the definition. I can understand why the noble Earl asks why the definition lists any type of vehicle at all, but we think that the limited list is of use because it gives a flavour of the various types of vehicles intended to be caught and it clarifies that non-road vehicles, which might not automatically be thought of as vehicles, are vehicles within the definition. Furthermore, the removal of vessels or aircraft from the subsection would have limited effect as the Government intend these vehicles to be smoke-free if they are used for public transportation or are used for work purposes by more than one person, as I explained earlier. We have included ““vessel”” in subsection (5) as some vessels, such as chain ferries, are not caught by the Merchant Shipping Act, which I mentioned earlier. The inclusion of vessels, therefore, makes it clear that we are intending to ensure that all relevant vehicles will be smoke-free. I hope that that clarifies the Government’s position, even if we do not necessarily agree with the amendments tabled by noble Lords.