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Health Bill

My Lords, I begin by responding to Amendment No. 8, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Naseby. This amendment seeks to ensure that the smoke-free provisions in the Bill cannot extend to private residential dwellings. Let me begin by reassuring noble Lords, as I tried to do in Grand Committee, that this Bill is about protecting people from exposure to second-hand smoke in enclosed and substantially enclosed public places and workplaces. That is what Clause 2 does. We have no intention of making people’s private spaces smoke-free by law. Clause 4 provides a power to make additional places smoke-free. These will be places that will not be enclosed or substantially enclosed, as defined by regulations under Clause 2, but where there is a risk of harm from second-hand smoke due to the inevitable close grouping of people. Examples might be sports stadiums, bus shelters and entrances to public buildings or workplaces. The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee noted that the power in Clause 4 to designate additional smoke-free places could potentially be used to prohibit smoking in domestic premises. In my response to that committee, and during the debate in Grand Committee, I made it clear that the Government will implement smoke-free legislation in line with human rights requirements, including the right to respect for private life in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.