Smoking (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

My Lords, I thank the Minister for presenting the order succinctly, as he always does. I am not very happy about the order. I support, as does my party, the prohibition of smoking in various places. However, it appears that the Government have not reflected in the order the lengthy and constructive debates on the Health Bill as it went through Parliament. The orders contain many of the flaws, in particular the lack of definition and the non-appearance of the detailed regulations in time for industry to comply with them, which were improved in that Bill. That is a significant deficiency. The debate about the validity of the smoking ban has gone on for a long time, and I do not want to go over any of that ground again. However, we need to pay attention to the question of the premises to which the ban should be applied, and how it should be applied, and to the certainty of its effectiveness or lack of effectiveness. These matters, particularly the definition of ““enclosed”” and ““substantially enclosed””, were debated at some length in our consideration of the other Bill. If the Government do not bring out sensible and clear regulations soon, places of work will have a very difficult time identifying whether they are to be smoke-free and in making provisions for smokers. Delayed regulations will lead to difficulty in getting planning permission for alterations in time, to unnecessary compliance costs, and to increased uncertainty among the wider public about what is allowed. There is a total lack of clarity in this order, particularly compared with the Health Bill for the rest of the United Kingdom. There are specific exemptions. The Health Bill identified several places that were definitely exempt, including care homes, tobacconists, research facilities and theatre stages in certain circumstances. The orders do not mention any of these places. Why not? The order allows that a private home may be exempt, leaving the power to ban smoking, even in a private individual’s home. Some people also note that the smoking ban will increase smoking in the home. That cannot be good. Under the order, smoking could be banned in all vehicles at all times. During consideration of the Health Bill, the Government confirmed that they intended to ban smoking in all vehicles used as a place of work, unless they were always used by only one person. Is that not confusing? How will that be enforced? The tractor man across the hill in the fields usually smokes, something happens and his boss has to come and get the tractor. Is he guilty? How ridiculous. This would mean exactly that. A tractor would be smoke-free if each farmer had one of his own, but the world simply is not like that. On many days, people do not know what vehicle they will get into when they get to work, as I am sure noble Lords know for themselves. The order allows government regulations on signage to be excessive, burdensome and permanent. We have enough burdensome and permanent graffiti in Northern Ireland without having uncontrolled no-smoking signs all over the walls of our lovely buildings. There should be controls and management, and there should be liability for planning permission and proper management. The order allows the Government to raise the legal age at which tobacco can be bought to any age, as the Minister highlighted. The Health Bill for the United Kingdom states that the age should not be raised above 18 years. Why is that not included in this Bill? In principle, we support the order, but I am extremely unhappy at how it has been put together.