Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Debate between Baroness Northover and Baroness Blake of Leeds

Committee stage
Monday 27th October 2025 Grand Committee

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 199 in my name, which complements Amendment 193, which was so effectively introduced by the noble Lord, Lord Young, and which I have also signed.

Amendment 199 would require the Government to publish and fund a comprehensive communications plan for the smoke-free generation policy. We have referred to the wealth of experience among us when it comes to implementing tobacco control measures: a number of those who are taking part in today’s discussion were involved in the 2007 smoke-free legislation, the subsequent rise in the age of sale and the introduction of plain packaging in 2016. We worked across parties. There are valuable lessons to be learned from how those policies were implemented.

The 2007 campaign for smoke-free indoor public places was, in many ways, the gold standard for large-scale public health communication. Its clear and consistent message—needed, wanted and workable—underpinned every aspect of that campaign. Early identification of those at risk of non-compliance ensured smooth implementation and effective enforcement. Government-led TV adverts made it absolutely clear that it was the Government, not the hospitality sector, who were informing the public of the changes. Venues and public spaces were equipped with the resources, signage and materials that they needed well in advance of implementation. The result was 98% compliance from day one. Public support was strong and the legislation was practically self-enforcing. Even the noble Lords who put what I see as the weakening amendments at the beginning of this debate said how well that had gone.

Crucially, the debate surrounding that policy also raised awareness of the harms of smoking and led to an increase in people’s attempts to seek to quit smoking. That is precisely the outcome we should be aiming for with this legislation. Although the rising age of sale will apply only to those born in or after 2009, this policy presents a significant opportunity to raise the profile of smoking-cessation services and to invite everyone to be part of this smoke-free generation.

I have tabled this amendment to ensure that the Government publish a clear and ambitious communications plan to achieve that. At its heart must be strong public health messaging, which is inclusive, evidence based and backed by a dedicated budget. Next year’s October campaign, which seeks to encourage smokers to stop, should be led by the Department of Health, sending a clear message that every smoker can join a smoke-free future. Now, this annual campaign is led by stakeholders, with little input from the department. This should change.

The communications around the disposable vapes ban were clearly ineffective. That was a Defra policy, but it published guidance only for businesses; there was nothing at all for the healthcare settings that use these products in smoking cessation. The Government will need to do better. I am sure that the Chief Medical Officer is aware of that, not least through his experience of Covid. There are in this Committee various people, not all on the same side, who have a lot of public affairs experience. I would love them to put their minds and experience to this; that would be really worth while.

A well-structured plan would also ensure that retailers are engaged early on, provided with concise materials, signage and briefing materials and supported to play their crucial role in this policy’s success. Engagement should be broad, involving local authorities, trading standards, the NHS and higher and further education. Such proactive collaboration would, as in 2007, reduce the need for enforcement by fostering widespread understanding and voluntary compliance. Obviously, such a communications plan needs robust monitoring, evaluation and engagement. Some noble Lords have already expressed concern about the novel nature of this policy; I hope this proposal demonstrates how the Government can provide reassurance through clarity, transparency and careful planning. The UK has a vibrant creative sector. Let us harness that in an ambitious and effective public information campaign, as happened with the 2007 ban on smoking in public places.

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Blake of Leeds) (Lab)]

My Lords, we are running out of time. If we want to finish the group, we will have to finish by 8 pm—otherwise, we will have to break midway through. It is up to noble Lords whether they want to keep their comments to a minimum so that we can finish this group.

Business and Planning Act 2020 (Pavement Licences) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Debate between Baroness Northover and Baroness Blake of Leeds

Wednesday 14th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, I strongly support the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, which he very effectively introduced. The Government claim that they want the UK to be smoke free by 2030, but they have a funny way of going about this.

Years back, despite the efforts of the tobacco industry, working cross party we introduced into the United Kingdom the provision that public places such as pubs and restaurants should be smoke free. Was that not a transformation? It made sense during the pandemic that pavement licences should be granted, as people needed to be more distant from each other. Most people welcomed these new arrangements. Pavements were often widened to accommodate them. Does the Minister agree that the key thing to remember here is that these areas are simply extensions of the areas inside and need to be smoke free as well—for people’s health, for them to be family-friendly and to move closer to the smoke-free aim that the Government apparently have?

We ran into all the usual tobacco industry-briefed objections last year and—surprise, surprise—it turned out that the noble Lord’s department had not properly consulted the Department of Health on the matter and had to scurry to do so. Has it fully done so this time?

The objections from the tobacco industry are so familiar to the Department of Health. The noble Lord, Lord Young, took these objections apart last week. I wish we had a stronger weapon than an amendment to an SI that was going to be just slipped through, having been debated in Grand Committee, where noble Lords cannot vote and would knock out the whole SI if we did. This SI will barely have been registered by most in your Lordships’ House. Thank goodness the noble Lord, Lord Young, noticed and flagged it to the rest of us.

If this amendment is lost, the Minister should not take that as the will of this House. I am fully confident that if and when we debate this in legislation, there will be overwhelming cross-party support in this House for helping to tackle the terrible scourge of smoking. The department should be very wary of the briefings and influential lobbies that push it in another direction. I hope I do not hear very familiar objections voiced by the Minister in a minute. On these Benches we strongly support this amendment and are very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, for tabling it. I hope he calls a vote.

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Faulkner for bringing this really important issue into the Chamber. His very well-informed and passionate speech does not need too much adding to.

I want to bring in a slightly different dimension. My noble friend and the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, both referenced the speeches in Grand Committee, which were really well put together; I recommend that everyone have a look at them in Hansard. We should also look at what we have learned over the last 18 months of the devastating impact of the coronavirus. We have been on an incredibly steep learning curve in understanding how the virus has impacted on the people who live in our communities. We have a duty, surely, to look at all the evidence before us.

Covid-19 is often described as a cruel virus and it has exposed health inequalities in the most vicious way. Surely we must learn from the knowledge that those suffering from underlying health conditions have been disproportionately affected by the virus. Smoking is a major contributory factor to those health conditions. Do we not have a responsibility to do everything in our power to reduce exposure to the impact of smoke inhalation? I am referring to both the customers and the staff in the premises we are talking about.

I would also like to emphasise the points that the noble Lord, Lord Young, made in Grand Committee about the lack of evidence and the lack of consultation with local authorities, which would have demonstrated that there has just not been the evidence that we should be concerned about the impact on the businesses we are talking about.

We have an opportunity to make an improvement to the provisions in the Building and Planning Act 2020. Of course, the irony is that the Act was brought in specifically to deal with the impact of coronavirus. I hope we will recognise the public health improvement outlined in my noble friend Lord Faulkner’s amendment and that we will all come together to show our support accordingly.