Clause 17 - Regulations
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill
3:30 pm
Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden, Conservative)
This is a very important clause, because it gives the power to make regulations and orders. My general observation is that we have a great deal of the cart before the horse with this Bill. We are taking a great deal on promise that provisions will be made in regulations—regulations that we have not seen, and on which, in some cases, consultation has not yet taken place. Being a relatively new parliamentarian I find that an astonishing way to go about one's business. So do those people who will be directly affected by this Bill, not least because, for a number of years, they have been promised consultation on these very important matters.
Also, there are some discrepancies that cause me to raise an eyebrow in relation to the regulation-making powers. Only an order in clause 7 or the regulations in clauses 8 and 10 will be affirmative statutory instruments that will be debated by both Houses of Parliament. However, the regulations referred to in clauses 4, 6, 12 and 18 do not appear to need affirmative statutory instruments. The one that causes my raised eyebrow is the transitional provision, which, unless I am very much mistaken, does not require positive resolution. A number of hon. Members have very considerable concerns about that provisions and how the transitional arrangements up to 2006 will be applied and why some sports should be given preferential treatment under them. The way in which the regulations will subsequently be debated will vary. It is important that we have the chance to debate them, especially as the fruits of consultation that has not yet taken place cannot inform our present argument. We could have approached some of the tricky issues in the Bill differently if the consultation on which those subsequent regulations will be based had taken place. For example, I do not feel at ease about whether we have satisfactorily dealt with the regulation of ISPs, and we have had no sight of the regulations that will affect them.
There are some discrepancies in, for example, subsection (2), which allows the appropriate Minister or Secretary of State to regulate differently for different cases or circumstances. I am concerned that that may be discriminatory and will not set a level playing field for those involved in publishing or distributing by electronic means. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Worcestershire, who has experience of the printing industry, made the interesting point that our country's printing businesses will be placed at a disadvantage under the Bill in terms of international tendering for magazines and periodicals that contain tobacco advertisements. By comparison, the new internet service industry seems to have been granted a considerable concession under new clause 3. The different industries that compete for our attention and to influence our choices will be treated in a different manner. I fear that the print industry may now be disadvantaged vis a vis those publishing or distributing by electronic means.
The Government have failed to provide adequate time for the detail of the Bill, as they have rushed to introduce it so that they can tick the box and say that their pledge to ban tobacco advertising has been achieved in the lifetime of this Parliament. That detail will be important to the effectiveness of the Bill and to the achievement of the Government's aims. As we have had no sight of the regulations, we will not even comment on the likely effectiveness of the secondary legislation until it is all done and dusted and has passed through the Houses of Parliament. Empty-box legislation is an inferior form of legislation, but very much a feature of this, my first Parliament. Disquiet about that is not confined to Opposition Members. Representations from the affected industries lead us to impress on the Government the fact that leaving decisions to regulations as much as possible is not regarded as especially helpful.