Results 1-20 of 31 for smoking speaker:Stephen Williams

Written Answers — Health: Smoking (10 Mar 2009)

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the smoking ban in reducing levels of smoking in England.

Prayers: Voting Age (Reduction) Bill (6 Jun 2008) has video

Stephen Williams: ...between a good habit and a bad habit. That is the point that I was making on 29 November 2005, which was also the day on which we had the Second Reading of the Health Bill that went on to ban smoking in public places and subsequently to raise from 16 to 18 the age at which a person can purchase cigarettes.

Written Answers — Health: Smoking (9 Mar 2006)

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice the Government received from the Better Regulation Task Force on restriction of smoking in workplaces.

Tackling Health Inequalities (16 Feb 2006)

Stephen Williams: ...20 minutes or so. I want to go back to where we left off on Tuesday night, when, collectively, we made probably the biggest advance in public health legislation for decades by passing a full ban on smoking. The prevalence rates for smoking are illustrative of the wider health inequalities that exist throughout society. I looked at the statistics for the south-west of England. The highest...

Tackling Health Inequalities (16 Feb 2006)

Stephen Williams: ...but I am sure that the people of Liverpool will take careful note. As the hon. Gentleman will know, an excellent organisation called Smokefree Liverpool is promoting a private Bill to impose a full smoking ban throughout Liverpool—of course, it will not now be necessary—led by Liberal Democrat-controlled Liverpool city council. Health outcomes are not always a matter of choice....

Tackling Health Inequalities (16 Feb 2006)

Stephen Williams: ...presume too much knowledge of areas represented by other Members. I do not know the hon. Gentleman's constituency, but I am sure that he knows more about occupational patterns there than I do. The smoking industry in Bristol went into decline a long time ago. I think that only very expensive top-of-the-range cigars are still produced in south Bristol, although the world headquarters of...

Orders of the Day — Health Bill: Clause 13 — Code of practice relating to health care associated infections (14 Feb 2006)

Stephen Williams: I should like to have spoken at greater length in the earlier debate on smoking. None the less, I am delighted with the outcome. Clearly, my wise words were not needed. Four or five years ago, we conducted a major survey in my constituency on health care services in Bristol. The most common spontaneous remarks expressed concern about standards of cleanliness in hospitals. In the verbal...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 80 - Short title and extent etc. (10 Jan 2006)

Stephen Williams: ...and particularly for your liberal attitude to dress code. I wish that gentlemen did not have to wear their jackets at all times in other parts of the House of Commons. We have had 12 sittings. The smoking part of the Bill occupied us and perhaps involved our most lively discussions, and we shall look for further changes when the Bill comes back to the Floor of the House. None the less, the...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: New Clause 2 - Age of sale (15 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: ...to learn that, perusing the website of the Office for National Statistics, I found the general household survey of 2003. The statistic that shone out at me was that 50 per cent. of those who now smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day—more than a full packet—started that habit when they were under 16; so their addiction started early in life.

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 8 - Fixed penalties for offence of smoking in smoke-free place (13 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: ...of somebody who is issued with a fixed penalty notice to elect a trial instead of paying the fine immediately. If somebody were to elect a trial, and they were to be found guilty of the offence of smoking in a public place, with no reasonable defence—such as not having seen the signs—what would be the penalty? Would it be the original fixed penalty or, as I understand is often...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 7 - Offence of smoking in smoke-free place (13 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: ...not normally expect to see anyone having a meal in any   pub in the country. If someone lit up next to me, I should not necessarily have the confidence to say, “Do you know it is illegal to smoke in this pub?” unless I had checked for the right signs in the right places or asked the landlord whether there was a menu for evening or lunchtime food to satisfy myself that I...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 4 - Additional smoke-free places (8 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: I find the amendment curious. I listened carefully to what the hon. Member for Westbury said and I did not understand what he meant by “significant amounts of” smoke. If my hon. Friend the Member for Northavon were still in his place and I were to light up—leaving aside the fact that you would reprimand me, Lady Winterton—the amount of smoke would be significant to...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 3 - Exemptions (8 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: ...probably is not very good. Extensive testing has been done in Holland; the Minister is fond of quoting European experience. The study reported that ventilation can reduce environmental tobacco smoke in enclosed areas by 50 to 90 per cent. That suggests that, depending where one is in the room, presumably, one would still have significant exposure to smoke, which could be as high as 50 per...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 3 - Exemptions (8 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: .... Gentleman intervened just as I was about to say that the amendment would be helpful if we are to be faced with a situation in which there will be rooms in which people are exposed to second-hand smoke: anything that improves the environment in those rooms would be a step in the right direction. Smoke is visible. Extractors might draw the smoke out of the room. The hon. Member for...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 3 - Exemptions (8 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: J. D. Wetherspoon is an interesting example. The Commercial Rooms in Bristol has gone smoke-free as part of a trial, but all the chain’s outlets serve food, so even if the Bill goes through unamended, the company will have to have a total ban. Its owner—I have forgotten his name—has gone on record as saying that he would prefer legislation to introduce a full ban so that...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 3 - Exemptions (8 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: ...: “I have not said, and nor has my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, that there is a difference purely on health grounds in terms of when a person is eating and exposed to smoke and when they are not eating. We have said that when we asked people about further Government legislation to restrict smoking in public places, they felt strongly that, based on choice,...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 3 - Exemptions (8 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: Good morning to you, Lady Winterton. Displacement has been referred to several times during our deliberations. Does my hon. Friend accept that if the legislation goes through it is likely that smokers will congregate in greater numbers in exempted pubs? Therefore, the concentration of the smoke in the air in that confined space will increase and the employees in that environment—no...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 3 - Exemptions (6 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: ...reasonable explanation why the Government think that the fact that someone has a bowl of soup, a more substantial meal or no meal in front of them affects their ability to breathe in second-hand smoke. There is clearly no relationship in health terms between whether one has a meal while one is in a pub having a drink or not. If there is smoke in the pub while one is simply drinking, one...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 3 - Exemptions (6 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: ...perhaps not all the exemptions will be removed. If I were a businessman I would be wary of incurring significant capital expenditure to protect my employees and customers from the effects of second-hand smoke if I thought that there was a chance that in two or three years the object of that expenditure would be scrap—probably not even scrap; who would want to buy second-hand smoke...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill: Clause 3 - Exemptions (6 Dec 2005)

Stephen Williams: ...That is important to business certainty, which has not yet been raised. One must assume that if this legislation is passed unamended and there are licensed premises and private members' clubs where smoking continues, the owners of those businesses or the trustees of the clubs may have to incur significant capital expenditure to bring their premises up to scratch—perhaps to create...