Results 1-20 of 44 for smoking speaker:Simon Hughes

Written Answers — House of Commons Commission: Portcullis House: Fire Alarms (20 Jul 2009)

Simon Hughes: ...Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many times the fire alarm in Portcullis House has been activated (a) for fire drill purposes, (b) for testing, (c) because of a fire or smoke, (d) because of a defect in the system and (e) for other reasons in (i) each year since 2005 and (ii) 2009 to date.

[Mr. Mike Weir in the Chair] — Management and Services (House of Commons) (18 Oct 2007)

Simon Hughes: ..., but there are ways of doing things in those sensitive areas. The hon. Member for Aberdeen, North raised a second sensitive area. The House took the view that we should be included in the anti-smoking legislation. I dissented from that legislation nationally, although my party was, by policy, a protagonist for it. I still take a more liberal and dissenting view on those things, and I hope...

Policing in London (3 May 2007)

Simon Hughes: ...Fisher boxing club annual dinner the other day. Youngsters who box are not into drugs and drink because the discipline required to do well in boxing means that they train and do not drink, do drugs, smoke or stay out all night. By and large, they have to live a disciplined lifestyle. At a lower level, people in all our constituencies regularly complain of antisocial behaviour. There are...

[Mr. Mike Weir in the Chair] — Coroners' System and Death Certification (8 Mar 2007)

Simon Hughes: ...family of the victim, for instance—should not have to sit next to one another in the waiting room of any coroner's court. Refreshment facilities and facilities so that people can go out for a smoke break or whatever are also needed. Our court in Southwark has been modified and is much better than it was, but in some places that has not been the case. In those places, people need the...

Public Bill Committee: Criminal Justice Bill: New clause 24 - Powers of confiscation (27 Feb 2003)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...cannabis and other controlled drugs in certain circumstances. However, cigarettes would certainly not fall within the proposed new clause. The thought that the police would be after kids who were smoking when it may have been illegal for them or others to have purchased cigarettes but not illegal, as far as I am aware, for them to be smoking, also strikes me as going too far. Thirdly,...

Public Bill Committee: Criminal Justice Bill: New clause 24 - Powers of confiscation (27 Feb 2003)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...harmful or not very acceptable. Going down that road leads to taking away crisps from the overweight and so on. There is all the difference in the world between illegally drinking alcohol or smoking illegal substances and doing things that kids regularly do, and I do not think that new clause 24 is the right approach.

Public Bill Committee: Criminal Justice Bill: Clause 137 - General limit on magistrates' court's (4 Feb 2003)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...that in many cases it does not work. My preference in such cases would be to look first to community penalties. That would ensure that the people did not spend their evenings and weekends drinking, smoking and spending money, flagrantly in breach of their obligation to society through the court order, but neither would we prevent them from earning money. One of the problems of locking...

Public Bill Committee: Criminal Justice Bill: Clause 9 - Power of arrest for possession of Class C drugs (7 Jan 2003)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...the medical evidence, which is agreed. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said so to the Government. The drugs are not in the same category. I am not encouraging anyone to get involved in smoking cannabis, but the reason why it is so wrong to make it public policy that possession of cannabis should be an arrestable offence—

Public Bill Committee: Criminal Justice Bill: Clause 9 - Power of arrest for possession of Class C drugs (7 Jan 2003)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...crack a small nut. It makes dealing in certain drugs an arrestable offence for the first time; it confers a 14-year prison sentence for the first time on certain activities; and it makes people who smoke cannabis uncertain about the consequences because it will be impossible to establish in advance when the aggravating circumstances apply. That is a recipe for uncertainty of law and for...

Public Bill Committee: Criminal Justice Bill: Clause 9 - Power of arrest for possession of Class C drugs (7 Jan 2003)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...Police are ''going soft on drugs'', a power of arrest is being proposed that will be exercised at the discretion of an officer only if there are aggravating circumstances. These include blowing smoke in a police officer's face or disorder involving someone in possession of cannabis or possession of cannabis by a person aged 17 or under. I do not know why we need one law giving an officer...

Estimates Day — [1st Allotted Day] — Vote on Account: 2003–04 — Government Drugs Policy (5 Dec 2002)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...to be committing a breach of public order offence by, say, winding up the police. To be honest, that represents a misdirection of resources. It must be better and clearer to say to people who smoke cannabis on their own that that remains a crime but that the policy is one of no arrest, no prosecution. The same applies to people who give cannabis to their mates for nothing, and to those who...

Drugs Strategy (9 Nov 2001)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...but it is not especially harmful. Ecstasy is more harmful. It is a relatively new drug, and we do not know all its implications. However, taking ecstasy leads to a handful of deaths a year, whereas smoking causes 120,000 deaths a year and alcohol-related diseases account for 30,000 deaths a year. We must give people the facts and counter the prejudice. We must also ensure that we have a...

Criminal Justice and Police Bill: After Clause 37 (10 May 2001)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...activities that currently are illegal. Is that so? I ask the question simply because the offence was previously defined as "knowingly permitting cannabis, cannabis resin or prepared opium to be smoked on premises", and that definition is being changed to encompass different types of activity.

Public Bill Committee: Criminal Justice and Police Bill: Clause 14 - Alcohol consumption in designated public places (15 Feb 2001)

Mr Simon Hughes: It is not only the Minister who is predictable. My serious point is that we should avoid signs for aesthetic reasons in lots of conservation areas. Hereford provides a good example; it has a conservation area in an attractive city centre that is not enhanced by lots of signs. Chippenham, which I know, is similar. No decent market town is enhanced by more signs prohibiting people from doing...

Public Health (6 Jul 1999)

Mr Simon Hughes: ..., damp flats and that local government has the money to deal with that? Why were there 21 targets under the previous Government, but only four targets now? Why is there no target to reduce smoking? Why is there no target to reduce traffic? Above all, why is there no target to reduce health inequality, which is meant to be at the centre of the whole policy? Will all Government policies be...

Orders of the Day — Greater London Authority Bill: Smoking in London Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (4 May 1999)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...out how long it must be since the hon. Gentleman was last on the underground for him to have had that experience. On a more serious point, he must surely accept that there is a significant passive smoking risk. If one gets into a cab, which might be the only cab that comes for 20 minutes, and it is full of the smoke left by the last passenger, one has no choice but to be affected by it,...

Orders of the Day — Greater London Authority Bill: Smoking in London Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (4 May 1999)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...on, the prospective passenger has a right to use the cab. The question is whether the provider, like the provider of a pub or any other public place, should have the right to say that it should be smoke free. For the purposes of transport, the cab is a public place. That is the difference. The law on smoking is applied in other public places; it is not applied to fish and chips or smells,...

Orders of the Day — Greater London Authority Bill: Smoking in London Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (4 May 1999)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...understand that he is in a muddle. We are arguing that the driver should have the freedom to choose. We are not advocating the nanny state. We are not saying that drivers must choose not to allow smoking in their cab. Unless we have all misunderstood where the Conservative party has come from and is going, surely it must defend the freedom of people to choose whether to run a smoke-free...

Orders of the Day — Greater London Authority Bill: Smoking in London Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (4 May 1999)

Mr Simon Hughes: ...s argument, but not imposing criminal sanctions will not solve the problem. Let us suppose that the hon. Gentleman was the driver involved. He would have risked the damage to his upholstery and the smoke-filled cab. Driving to a police station three miles away in an attempt to get rid of someone who might not easily go would not get to the bottom of the difficulty. I think that the...

Orders of the Day — Greater London Authority Bill: Smoking in London Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (4 May 1999)

Mr Simon Hughes: My hon. Friend mentioned the National Asthma Campaign. I have had reports that some people who suffer from severe asthma open the door to get into a cab, realise that it has been filled with smoke by the passenger who has just left and decide not to take that cab. They may not subsequently get a cab for up to 25 minutes. Their use of public transport is inhibited and the cab driver loses the...