New Clause 12
Health Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Michael Penning (Shadow Minister, Health; Hemel Hempstead, Conservative)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
It has been a pleasure to be in Committee with you, Mr. Key, since Mr. Speaker left. New clause 12 is self-explanatory. It is a probing amendment that we do not intend to press to a vote. It seeks to push the Government to have a smoking cessation strategy. The new Minister said they will come forward with that later in the year, and nicotine replacement is a very important part of that. A lot of nicotine replacement is on prescription now, and I want to ensure that much of that is generic, so that the taxpayer gets value for money. I also want manufacturers to address nicotine addiction with the strength of the replacement. All too often I hear of people on nicotine replacement having, it seems, to chew gum all day to get anywhere near the level of nicotine addiction that they have from their smoking habit.