New Clause 1
Health Bill [Lords]
1:45 pm
Michael Penning (Shadow Minister, Health; Hemel Hempstead, Conservative)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
New clause 1 seeks to bring the law protecting young people from tobacco into line with the law protecting young people from alcohol. The Government, supported by myself and the Opposition, have amended legislation to make it illegal for people under the age of 18 to purchase tobacco products. That was a sensible thing to do and will help to discourage young people from smoking. I am sure the Minister will say that that was in the thoughts of the Government when they introduced the relevant provisions in the Bill.
The problem is that, unlike the proxy purchase of alcohol—it is a criminal offence to buy alcohol knowingly to pass it on to a minor, or an individual under the age of 18, as the legislation states—it is not a criminal offence at all to purchase tobacco knowingly and willingly to pass it on to a person under the age of 18. I assumed that this was just a slip of thought, or a missed opportunity, when the Government introduced the legislation, so I looked for such a provision when the Bill was introduced in the other place, but it was not there. I decided, therefore, that it would be sensible to table an amendment with my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury, to change the law in order to protect young children.
The Committee has heard me speak about evidence several times during the past few weeks. The evidence is there: “Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People 2006” showed that 89 per cent. of young people either being bought tobacco products or being given tobacco products by an older person. Interestingly, that was before the legislative changes, so it related to young people aged 16 or younger being given tobacco products by adults.
On the assumption that if 89 per cent. of young people are having tobacco products purchased on their behalf, or sold to them by someone, the tobacco products are not necessarily all coming through tobacconists, I would have liked to discuss the whole issue of black-market products, counterfeit products and “cheap whites”—products imported into this country and sold very cheaply, mainly from the eastern bloc. Those amendments and new clauses were not selected, but perhaps we will be able to come back to that area.
New clause 1 is a very simple new clause. It will bring our legislation up to date. It will make it a criminal offence for a person who owns a shop to knowingly sell tobacco to a minor, and it will make it a criminal offence to proxy purchase, which is the key to the new clause. That would make it much easier for the authorities to pick up on those who are preying on young people—either people selling from an ice-cream van, which used to happen when I was a young fellow outside the school, or people selling black-market products or any other tobacco products, whether legal or illegal. To knowingly do that would be a criminal offence, and that would make it a recordable crime so that we could stamp down on this. I hope the Government and the Minister will support new clause 1.