Health Bill

I am not sure that it does. I will try and deal with it in my response. I start with a core point. Every country that has introduced smoke-free legislation has used no-smoking signs as a cornerstone for enforcement and communicating with the public.  They allow clear communication with smokers regarding where and when they may be breaking the law. I can say to the noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury—I am sorry, I meant the noble Lord, Lord Naseby; I apologise for renaming the noble Lord because I assume that he does not wish to be renamed in any way whatever. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, that any signs will have to have the international no-smoking symbol on them. That is a clear way of delineating to people what can and cannot be done. To reverse the burden, as I think a number of noble Lords have hinted at or suggested, would mean that smokers were unaware that the premises were covered by legislation. In areas which attract large numbers of tourists, such as London, communication of non-smoking through signage, particularly using an internationally recognised sign, is likely to continue to be important. If someone attempts to smoke on the premises, other occupiers might find it helpful to be able to point to a notice which sets out the legal requirement. Signs are therefore likely to make it easier for occupiers to enforce smoke-free requirements. However, we do not intend our requirements to result in an over-abundance of signs. We are not picking on the pub industry. Signage requirements are the same for all enclosed and substantially enclosed premises. The noble Earl, Lord Howe, flourished the figure of £2 million at us. If I were unkind, which of course I am not, I might say that £2 million as a proportion of the profit levels of the whole industry is relatively modest. But I shall not even make the remark; I just observe what I could have said if I wanted to. It is difficult to know where the industry got the figure from if it does not know, which it does not, what the requirements in the regulations are. It is difficult to work out a figure and I suggest that, without knowing what is in the regulations, the figure will be rather speculative.