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Health Bill

The noble Baroness is of course right. I must make it my business to see Ian McKellen’s portrayal of Richard III, about which the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, spoke. However, in speaking about maverick and perverse artistic ideas, my point was simply that, if challenged, it would be for a director to justify what he was seeking to do in a particular production—no more and no less than that. If the director can do so, all well and good. As regards enforcement, I tend to agree with my noble friend. I should not have thought that enforcement would be any more difficult in this area than it would be in regard to any other type of exemption. I would hope that ways and means could be found to address that issue successfully. However, in concluding, I make a further plea to the Minister on an issue that he did not directly address—that is, the issue of rehearsals. As I said earlier, the point has been made to me very strongly that if actors are not allowed to rehearse using the real thing in terms of smoking materials, then it is difficult to go on stage for a live performance and do it successfully, or as successfully as they would wish. This matter does need to be looked at and I hope that the Minister and his colleagues in the department will do so sympathetically. For the time being, I thank the Minister again and beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendment No. 18 not moved.]