Health Bill

I will not refer any further to the age dimension. But it always amazes me that consultation takes place in the summer months when a significant number in the nation are on holiday and are quite often unable to respond. Leaving that aside, there is a technical dimension which worries me about this clause. Clause 13 enables the Secretary of State to amend two other Acts; namely, the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, which prohibits the,"““sale of tobacco . . . to persons under 16””," and the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991, which requires the,"““display of warning statements in retail premises and on vending machines””." I believe that it is relevant in terms of clarity of legislation to consider whether it is appropriate to use the Health Bill as a means of enabling orders to be made amending other Acts. We know the history of what happened to this clause. It was added during Committee stage in the other place, largely as a result of pressure from anti-smoking activists and the keen-ness on the Government’s part at that time of gaining more support for their choosing a health proposal to permit smoking in pubs and bars that did not serve food. Having added Clause 13, the Government discarded the Choosing Health proposals in favour of a comprehensive ban on smoking. As the Minister says, they will undertake a public consultation. It seems to me that whatever age is decided on, enforcement by the authorities and at the point of sale by retailers is, in effect, the key consideration. At the moment, the burden lies largely with the retailers, without there being any statutory requirement for the intending purchaser to produce evidence of his age. The CitizenCard proof of age scheme is a market leader with about 1 million cardholders, and it is substantially funded by UK tobacco manufacturers. Do the Government hope that tobacco manufacturers will carry on with that, whatever age the Government may choose? Or have the Government got a scheme up their sleeve to prove the age of the young person, so that the retailer does not have to make that judgment? That seems to be one of the key issues in this clause as we come to the end of this part of the Bill.