Results 1-20 of 43 for smoking speaker:Michael Penning

[Hugh Bayley in the Chair] — Health Inequalities (12 Nov 2009)

Michael Penning: ...pay tribute to the Committee. Interestingly enough, the report, when it first came out, drew on a lot of previous reports by the Committee, particularly its excellent report done at the time of the smoking debate. Without the Committee and its proposed amendments, the present legislation would not be on the statute book. I know that whenever the right hon. Gentleman speaks, he always likes...

[Hugh Bayley in the Chair] — Health Inequalities (12 Nov 2009)

Michael Penning: ...that is close to the heart of the Chairman of the Select Committee and that we have debated—although, sadly, not for long enough—on the Floor of the House in Committee and on Report: smoking. It is the great pariah out there in our country that causes so many problems. In particular, I want to pick up on the point made by the hon. Member for Wyre Forest about the illicit...

Health Bill [ Lords] (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 22 — Power to prohibit or restrict sales from vending machines (10 Nov 2009)

Michael Penning: ...taken place only if there were a Division on that basis. A free vote was allowed for the Opposition, but it was certainly not a free vote for Labour Members, yet we had called for one for all the smoking debates. With that in mind, when does the Minister expect to introduce the regulations, which will be subject to an affirmative resolution? When that happens, will there be a free vote on...

Onshore Wind Turbines (Proximity of Habitation): [Sir Alan Haselhurst in the Chair] (3 Nov 2009) has video

Michael Penning: ...; they are consultants in a Department. Are they covered by the Bill? If they are not, how do the civil servants working below them know where they stand? I suspect that there has been some smoke and mirrors in the civil service, so that numbers have been lost from the payroll but people have come back in through another door as consultants. There is some evidence of that. We need to know...

New Member: New Clause 1 — Purchase of tobacco on behalf of children (12 Oct 2009) has video

Michael Penning: ...replacement therapy, its cost and how we can make it more available. Once people are addicted to nicotine, it is difficult to give up. The Government have a myriad of different programmes for smoking cessation, most of which I support, but the best approach is to address nicotine addiction. There must be ways to put nicotine replacement therapy closer to the consumer—perhaps in the...

New Member: New Clause 1 — Purchase of tobacco on behalf of children (12 Oct 2009) has video

Michael Penning: ...of the Report stage gives it the importance it deserves. We want to see a free vote across the House and proper time given to debating this important issue of how we stop youngsters starting to smoke without completely destroying the corner shop.

New Member: New Clause 1 — Purchase of tobacco on behalf of children (12 Oct 2009) has video

Michael Penning: ...Smee, commissioned by the Department of Health into the effects of advertising and display bands. They said that it seemed clear that tobacco advertising and retail displays had no effect on youth smoking initiation in the late 1980s. That was what was sitting on the right hon. Gentleman's desk. Why do we not have that evidence before us, so that we can have a balanced debate?

New Member: New Clause 1 — Purchase of tobacco on behalf of children (12 Oct 2009) has video

Michael Penning: It is a pleasure to take this element of the Bill through its final stages. I was a proud member of the Select Committee on Health that pushed the Government from a partial ban on smoking in public places to a full ban. I did not think that anyone should be protected under the legislation on a cherry-picking principle. It should be one rule for all or not at all. I was therefore pleased that...

New Member: New Clause 1 — Purchase of tobacco on behalf of children (12 Oct 2009) has video

Michael Penning: ...the House. I said to the Minister in Committee that the evidence appeared to be selective. I understand where it came from; I have nothing but admiration for Cancer Research UK and Action on Smoking and Health—ASH. I have worked with them in the past and will continue to do that. However, it is a Minister's job to examine all the evidence so that legislation is evidence-based.

New Member: New Clause 1 — Purchase of tobacco on behalf of children (12 Oct 2009) has video

Michael Penning: ...clause 1 and amendments 1 and 2 in particular to a vote. I find it strange that the Government have not accepted the substance of new clause 1 and tabled such an amendment themselves. Raising the smoking age from 16 to 18 had broad support throughout the country, levelled up our legislation with that of many of our European colleagues and friends, and made it similar to that for alcohol....

Written Answers — Health: Smoking (20 Jul 2009)

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the proportion of (1) deaths which were attributable to smoking in each of the last 10 years; (2) adults who were smokers in each of the last five years.

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill [Lords]: New Clause 12 (25 Jun 2009)

Michael Penning: ...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...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill [Lords]: New Clause 12 (25 Jun 2009)

Michael Penning: ..., “I should really give up.” The retailer was precluded from doing that, and the Minister should address such matters. Nicotine replacement is an expensive—but a key—part of smoking cessation. We should encourage as many people as possible to give up smoking. I want the Minister to bring together the key stakeholders before 21 July 2009, as the new clause states. If...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill [Lords]: New Clause 1 (25 Jun 2009)

Michael Penning: ...may not be perfect—is to bring us from a position of nothing to a position of protecting young people, in a Bill which the Government say is evidence-based to protect children from starting to smoke. I had hoped that the Minister would say in her comments, “It is not perfect, so we will draft an amendment on Report. We will come back with that, and we will ban it in the Bill. We...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill [Lords]: New Clause 1 (25 Jun 2009)

Michael Penning: ...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...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill [Lords]: Clause 22 (24 Jun 2009)

Michael Penning: ...that people do not want to ban tobacco sales altogether—we should be honest about that. I agree with the Liberal Democrat spokesman that we did not have an honest debate on the legislation on smoking in public places. Other Committee members served with me on that Public Bill Committee. Health and safety legislation was used as a back-door method to ban smoking in public places. It...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill [Lords]: Clause 22 (24 Jun 2009)

Michael Penning: I thank my hon. Friend. I started smoking when I was 16 years old, as did the rest of the battalion I was serving with in the British Army. Cigarettes in the Army are still almost tax-free, particularly when one is serving abroad. On the ships of the Royal Navy, people are given a quota and still encouraged to use it. Under the previous smoking legislation, we considered why we continue to...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill [Lords]: Clause 21 (24 Jun 2009)

Michael Penning: I completely agree with the Minister that we must make every effort to help people who want to quit smoking. May I take her back to what she said about display? I understood that the Bill’s purpose was to prevent young people from seeing tobacco advertised in a shop in a display, and then illegally purchasing it on impulse. The Minister has just said that its purpose is to prevent adults...

Public Bill Committee: Health Bill [Lords]: Clause 21 (24 Jun 2009)

Michael Penning: I referred at the outset of our discussion on this part of the Bill to the work of Cancer Research UK, Action on Smoking and Health and other contributory organisations that are working so hard. However, it is obvious that they will be selective about the evidence that they put forward and will choose what supports their argument. They will not choose evidence that contradicts what they are...