Clause 2 - Prohibition of tobacco advertising
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill
Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 2, in page 1, line 19, leave out
`a separate entity containing, or being,'.
The amendment is a probing amendment to find out how the Bill will work in practice. Many parties will be affected by a ban on tobacco advertising and the amendment would introduce an element of practicality into the clause. What lays behind the proposal to omit any reference to a separate entity is my worry that it is unreasonable to expect magazine publishers to be responsible for leaflets containing tobacco advertisements that are subsequently placed inside the magazines before they are sold. Paper print distribution is a high-speed bulk business and it is not unusual for inserts to be placed in newspapers and magazines. I am sure that all members of the Committee have picked up newspapers and held them up the wrong way only to find leaflets falling on to the pavement that they then have to scoop up.
There is another practical difficulty. I doubt whether editors of the large broadsheet newspapers are aware of how many inserts are placed in their newspapers on any particular day. They would be more concerned about the editorial content. I am most worried about the little guys at the bottom of the system who may be caught by the clause, particularly those in the corner shop. They do not have the time to check each magazine, periodical or newspaper for separate entities that may have been inserted in them.
Any member of the Committee who visited his or her paper shop this morning, in the murky gloom of London, will know how busy newsagents are from the early hours. Great stacks of papers are often thrown outside the door in the small hours and have to be rapidly placed in the shop for sale. Sometimes, the string ties are just cut and the papers left in the pile.
I asked my newsagent whether there was any practical way in which he can reassure himself about what is or is not inserted separately into the newspaper. He cannot—certainly not in the time scale within which he operates. The amendment would ensure that innocent people are not caught by the Bill. It may not provide sufficient protection for people, but I hope that the Minister will understand the spirit behind it. It is designed to examine the way in which material is distributed and to ensure as far as possible that people would not be caught unfairly by the Bill.