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Health Bill

The noble Lord, Lord Wakeham, is right: I did enjoy the noble Earl’s speech and I much appreciated his tour of world and British theatre. The way that he managed to work Ibsen and Noël Coward into a single sentence was masterly. I have, in any case, always thought that you would probably need a fag or two if you were performing Ibsen. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of ““Look Back in Anger””, it would be very churlish of me not to respond in a sympathetic manner to the amendment. Certainly in my earlier years, I was always rather fond of Jimmy Porter—some would say that I have never grown out of that role model. I wish to reassure the Committee that I am sympathetic to the issue of smoking in live theatre and film and television recording. During Second Reading, my noble friend Lady McIntosh set out very eloquently the case for that, and it has been repeated this afternoon. The Government are considering providing a specific exemption from smoke-free legislation to ensure that smoking can take place on stage during live theatrical performances, or during film and television recording, where smoking is integral to the plot or storyline. My honourable friend, the public health Minister, Caroline Flint, is now writing to the various stakeholders in the industry setting out our intentions for an exemption from smoke-free provisions for live theatres and television and film recording. Of course, the detail of such an exemption will need to be set out in regulations. I am sure that there will be extensive consultation and discussion on the detail with the various colleagues of my noble friend Lady McIntosh in the theatre, film and TV fields as we take this forward. I hope that with that reassurance the noble Earl will be happy to withdraw the amendment.