Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall also speak to Amendment 45. Before we debate Clause 19 as a whole, I would like to turn noble Lords’ attention to a particular provision that it contains, which we debated at some length in Grand Committee. I refer to the provision which deals with so-called "requested displays" of tobacco. A requested display is defined in new Section 7B as being, ""a display to an individual following a particular request by the individual to purchase a tobacco product, or for information about a tobacco product"." The individual concerned must be 18 years old or over. In an earlier debate we heard from the Minister that this provision is there, ""because it is right that customers should be able to see and handle a product before buying it".—[Official Report, 5/3/09; col. GC 358.]" Leaving aside that some of us think that that is exactly what tobacco displays facilitate—they enable you to see a product before buying it—the provision gives rise to all sorts of practical issues. To what extent would a retailer risk breaking the law if a customer asked to see a packet of cigarettes and had a child standing next to them? In a supermarket, where one might have several requests to display cigarettes in quick succession, how problematic would it be for a shopkeeper to comply with those requests when there are children standing around? And how long a period is reasonable for viewing a packet of cigarettes before deciding whether or not to buy it? All these questions are being asked. At the moment, we do not have any detailed answers because the draft regulations have not been published. That is regrettable because what is at issue here is how workable the regulations will actually be. Ministers may give us assurances now that it will not be an offence to make a requested display to an adult who happens to have a child with them, but we cannot know what difficulties may arise until we have seen the regulations. Overprescriptiveness is another trap. It could be, for example, that the regulations will attempt to lay down a specific time limit for a requested display. If they do, I do not think that would either workable or enforceable. Nor could one envisage a rule that specified a maximum size for a requested display, because one could easily imagine a customer wanting to view more than one product at a time. Why should they not do so? The Bill would prohibit someone under 18 being able to view a packet of cigarettes after making a request to do so. As the Bill is worded, a retailer could face a fine of £20,000 or six months in jail if he showed a packet of cigarettes to a young person, even though he ultimately refused the sale. That seems extraordinarily draconian and shows why the practical detail of the regulations really will matter. There are systems installed in the tills of some shops which prompt staff to check for age, but they will kick in only once the product has been displayed and scanned. Making it an offence even to show the product will not allow the age verification system to cut in at an early enough point. It is perhaps worth saying that there is no parallel to these provisions anywhere else in the law in situations where there is a bar to selling to under-18s. Alcohol, knives, pharmaceuticals and fireworks may not be sold to minors, but merely displaying those products to minors is not illegal. If requested displays are to constitute an exemption to the general display ban—and I emphasise that the devil will lie in the detail as regards the workability of the rules—they cannot surely be the only exemption. What happens, for example, when new stock is being delivered to the shop? The goods have got to come into the premises, at which point they may be visible to customers. They then have to be loaded on to the shelves. What is a retailer supposed to do? In many shops, the shelves can be restocked only during operational hours when customers may well be about. Will the regulations make allowances for this? We just do not know. Another candidate for exemption surely has to be duty-free sales of tobacco at airports. I have been informed that there have been discussions between Department of Health senior representatives and their counterparts from the aviation industry, who are concerned about the negative impact of the proposed tobacco display ban on airport retail revenues. I understand that these discussions are focused on the possibility of establishing a specific regime that will allow duty-free retailing to continue funding our aviation industry without undermining the objectives of the Government’s policy. Is the Minister aware that when Canada framed similar legislation, it none the less recognised the unique nature and importance of duty-free and therefore decided to exempt duty-free retail shops from the display ban? It would be helpful if the Minister could confirm that the discussions to which I referred are taking place and that the Government recognise the need to prevent the loss of essential revenue to UK airports, which are already under extreme pressure due to the current recession. I do not think that Ministers have quite realised how complex it will be for retailers to comply with the requested display regulations and how near-on impossible it will be to enforce them. If she is unable to fill us in today on exactly how the provisions will work, the only thing we can do is put down a marker for the other place to explore these issues when the Bill reaches it. On the other hand, we may be pleasantly surprised by the answers that we receive today. In the hope that we may be, I beg to move.