Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I realise that the concept of requested display may require some clarification and I should like to explain our intentions. I note that the noble Earl seeks to expunge Clause 19 from the Bill but I hope that my explanations will help him reconsider. The prime effect of Clause 19 is to make any display of tobacco products an offence but we need to make sure that shopkeepers are still able to sell cigarettes to their customers. It should not be an offence to show adults a product before they buy it or as they make their purchase. The requested display provisions mean that retailers would not commit an offence in such circumstances. We believe that this is a straightforward matter: an adult should be able to see a product before or when they are buying it. So, this clause is a very important safeguard for retailers. Without it, retailers may constantly risk committing an offence just by serving customers. Therefore, we felt that it was important for all concerned that this safeguard is in the Bill. The noble Earl raised the issue of the regulatory process. I can assure him that we expect that a huge amount of care and detail will go into framing the regulations that will accompany this Bill. Specifically, I assure him that we are already working with representatives of the airport duty-free tobacconists to ensure that regulations take account of their particular circumstances. Officials have already had two meetings with these stakeholders. Draft regulations that cover tobacco sold in airport duty-frees will be publicised for consultation as soon as is practicable after Royal Assent. We are of course working with many other retail organisations on this; we have done throughout the framing of this Bill and will continue to do so as we frame our regulations. In practice, we expect that most people will continue to do as they have always done—simply to ask for their brand irrespective of whether they can see it before buying it. This is because we know that cigarette brands enjoy some of the highest levels of brand loyalty. People rarely switch brands and we know that displays currently influence the choice of brand for only about 1 per cent of people. However, since children are not legally able to purchase tobacco there is no reason for them to see a display, let alone purchase from it. In the main, the requested-display provisions would make little change to the way in which most shops sell tobacco in practice. Retailers will continue to sell tobacco to adults and when someone who looks underage asks to buy tobacco, retailers will challenge them for proof of age as they do now. Many responsible retailers already use good practice when dealing with potential sales of age-restricted products, such as alcohol and cigarettes, and challenge customers who look under 21 or 25. In practice, requested displays would mean that, first, adults could see the product before they buy it; secondly, that retailers could continue to sell tobacco to adults; and thirdly, that tobacco promotion through display would be stopped. These amendments would increase the number of occasions on which a retailer would be committing an offence, and we believe that, on that basis, they should not be accepted. I know that the noble Earl was seeking clarification about this issue and on that basis I hope he feels able to withdraw the amendment.