Caroline Flint (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Health; Don Valley, Labour)

Lady Winterton, it is a pleasure to serve under you this morning, and one that I do not think that I have had before.

Before we adjourned on Tuesday, the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) was explaining why he believed that, within the tightly defined areas that will be exempted from our smoke-free policy, there should be further provision for preventing smoking in areas where there are likely to be children. The reach of our proposals for smoke-free areas in places where children go should not be underestimated. For example, we have said that every shopping mall, café and leisure centre should be smoke free. We can all agree that a lot of families with children are likely to be in such areas. That is a huge step forward in protecting children from smoke. In addition, our proposals cover restaurants and cafés where food is being eaten, whether or not they are licensed.

One development in the past 15 years has been the way in which the pub trade has created more of a family atmosphere by providing food on its premises, and often facilities where younger children can play. That is welcome; it makes the experience a family activity. Our proposals will cover all those places.

So I do not agree with the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire that somehow the Bill does not cover the needs of children. It tackles the needs of adults who want to work and choose to socialise in smoke-free places and, as a by-product, the very places in which smoking will not be allowed are those to which children are encouraged to go—there are rather more of those than there are licensed premises.

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