Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 34:"Page 5, line 24, leave out from ““exceeding”” to end of line 25 and insert ““level 2 on the standard scale””" The noble Earl said: In moving Amendment No. 34, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 36 and 43. This group of amendments is designed to make a small protest over the fact that the Bill does not set out the penalties for the offences defined in Clauses 6, 7 and 8 but instead leaves that job to regulations. I believe that that is unsatisfactory. The amendments suggest that the maximum fine applicable to the offence of failing to put up a sign, as required by the Clause 6 regulations, should be level 2; that the fine for smoking in a smoke-free place should be set at level 1; and that the fine for failing to stop someone smoking in a smoke-free place should be level 2. I believe that those are the sorts of penalties that we should be looking at but I am not necessarily wedded to those levels. I am perfectly happy for anyone to argue the toss over whether they are appropriate. What chiefly concerns me is that the Bill should say what the penalties should be and we can then have a debate about that. I do not understand why this is not thought to be possible. Perhaps in the first instance the Minister can give us a clear idea of what penalties we are likely to see in these areas and then tell us whether there is any possibility of the Bill being amended to reflect government intentions. I beg to move.