Clause 9 - Offence of failing to prevent smoking in smoke-free place
Health Bill
5:15 pm
George Young (North West Hampshire, Conservative)
I shall develop my hon. Friend’s point in relation to subsection (3), which makes it clear that the person whose job it is to ensure that a place is smoke-free can, in certain circumstances, commit an offence. My concern is not with the people right at the bottom of the management chain, but with those right at the top.
For the sake of argument, let us take the Palace of Westminster. These are premises in which people work and I am not aware that we exempted the Palace from the provisions of clause 2. There is therefore a duty on somebody who
“controls or is concerned in the management of smoke-free premises to cause a person smoking there to stop smoking”
in the Palace of Westminster. The Palace is largely smoke-free, and so it should be. The Aye Lobby and the No Lobby are also smoke-free premises, and one should not to smoke in them. I am happy to say that when I vote with my party, which is 99 per cent. of the time, I do not see anybody smoking. More recently, however, I have voted with Government Members, who have needed the support of Conservative Members from time to time, and I have seen people smoking. I have not bothered to do anything about that, because it would be churlish so to do, but as I understand subsection (3), the Serjeant at Arms, the Clerk or somebody else would be failing in their duty if they did not stop people smoking in the Lobby. The person who is smoking might not be charged with an offence, but the person whose job it is to ensure that the premises are smoke-free—this would apply anywhere, not only in the Palace of Westminster—commits an offence if he does not discharge that responsibility.
My hon. Friend the Member for Westbury said that it might be quite difficult for people to enforce the provision, but they will none the less commit an offence, and the clause goes on to specify what sort of offence that might be. It would be helpful if the Minister reassured us that she has thought the provision through, that it is in line with existing legislation for places where smoking is already banned, such as on railways, airlines and buses, and that it is broadly in line with the responsibilities that other countries have placed on management when introducing provisions such as those in clause 9.