Clause 3 - Exemptions
Health Bill
9:00 am
Andrew Lansley (Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Health; South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
When I sought to intervene, the Minister was saying that parents would be free to continue to smoke in front of their children in private places, but that the changes brought about by the Bill would help children in public places. However, part of the difficulty is that in some areas of the country a large number of establishments would be exempt. I have referred to the report in the British Medical Journal that analysed Telford and the Wrekin and suggested that two thirds of pubs in deprived areas would be exempt. If we took clubs into the equation, 80 per cent. of establishments in deprived areas would be exempt. Therefore, in some areas not only are children likely to be exposed to smoke in the home, but some of the social establishments to which their parents are most likely to go will probably continue to allow smoking. We will not reinforce parents’ understanding of the damaging effects of smoke on their children unless they are aware that in public places they should not expose their children to second-hand smoke.