Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, because of my great age, I first came into the health service a long time ago, when it first started. I worked in many hospitals and clinics. I even gave up time to sit on a district health authority in order to do something about an aspect of the hospital that I was not happy with. I appreciate this large step forward in the history of the health service and congratulate my noble friend Lord Darzi on the very hard work that he has put into the proposals. I shall confine my remarks to the provisions on the prohibition of tobacco displays. In doing so, I declare an unsalaried interest as chairman of CitizenCard, a not-for-profit, proof-of-age card scheme. It is one of many. CitizenCard was founded in my former constituency of Newcastle-under-Lyme in the late 1990s following the Government’s decision to crack down on sales to children of alcohol and tobacco as well as gambling and other restricted products. A coalition of retailers and manufacturers launched this leading proof-of-age scheme with a generous endowment from British American Tobacco and now with funding from Camelot, Ladbrokes, Somerfield, the Association of Convenience Stores and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents—a good collection of hard-working and well-thought-of people. I am pleased to say that we expect soon to have issued more than 2 million cards, a large number of which will have been issued free of charge to young people through local authorities and schools. It is proof, if proof is needed, that traders and young people understand the age restriction laws that are in place and the need for an acceptable proof-of-age system to protect children and retailers alike. Because of my chairmanship of the committee, I am aware more than most of the cost incurred and efforts made by the industry and retailers to keep within the law. Indeed, we spend many hours and much money spreading the word. We obey what the Government have told us to do. However, I know that the Bill will have a major impact on our courts. Retailers, such as corner shops which are already struggling to survive, will find it very hard to implement the provisions. The Government’s proposal to remove tobacco products from display—by covering the existing display gantry with a Venetian blind or curtain which will be raised or opened when a customer is being served, in an effort to hide these products from young people—is complete and utter nonsense. Such actions are bound to give more prominence to the selling of tobacco—fascinating to children as forbidden fruit—and cause stress and irritation to shopkeepers and customers alike, resulting in further encouragement of the illicit trade in tobacco, more small shops closing, and more jobs lost—a lot of jobs lost. Do we never think of jobs when we think of health—other than jobs in the health service? When people lose their jobs, as we are discovering now, the stress puts them back into the health service; it does not take them out, as some of these proposals seem to suggest. Is that what we want? Do we want to bully adults into feeling guilty, giving as our excuse the protection of children? Or is it just an excuse to stop adults smoking, which, after all, is legal? Why does the Bill not make it illegal for adults to buy tobacco for use by children? This would be really useful, and would protect the shopkeeper and the child. Why is it not in the Bill? Everybody would back it; that I do know. What will the Government do about the large black market in tobacco? That is where the children are getting their tobacco. They may tell you differently, but I have spent a lot of time in pubs, talking to young people every weekend in my former constituency, and I have heard things that the Bill does not take into account at all. There are things that can be done. They will be supported by the trade and by shops. They will be supported by tobacco manufacturers. However, putting even more pressure on shopkeepers is not one of them. I have never smoked. However, when I see what we have done to people, driving them out onto the streets to indulge in something that is legal, and from which my Government obtain a large amount of money, I am sorely tempted to join them, to show solidarity by doing something that I never thought I would want to do, namely take up smoking. You can pass as many laws as you like, but you have to take people with you. To shove things in their faces and down their throats, saying, ““You cannot have this, you cannot have that””, is not the way forward. Do it gently. We have made progress in the health service over the years, gently, by introducing things step by step. Take it easy; people will come with you. Do not try to force them. Remember what happened with prohibition in America.