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Smoke-free (Penalties and Discounted Amounts) Regulations 2007

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Smoke-free (Penalties and Discounted Amounts) Regulations 2007. 8th Report from the Statutory Instruments Committee. The noble Baroness said: In moving that this Committee consider the draft Children and Young Persons (Sale of Tobacco etc.) Order, I shall speak also to the draft Smoke-free (Penalties and Discounted Amounts) Regulations and the draft Smoke-free (Exemptions and Vehicles) Regulations. These are draft instruments proposed under powers contained in Part 1 of the Health Act 2006. I am delighted to bring these draft instruments before the Committee and, as both the subjects covered by these draft instruments were discussed extensively during the passage of the Health Act, I hope that the Committee sees the logic in considering these instruments together. I will take each of the instruments in turn to provide an overview of their effect as well as of their background. The Children and Young Persons (Sale of Tobacco etc.) Order changes the age of sale of tobacco products from 16 to 18 years by amending the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. It also has the effect of changing the signage requirements for retail premises to reflect this change in age by amendingthe Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991. It is our intention that these effects will take place from 1 October 2007 in both England and Wales. I am pleased to say that there was almost universal support for the increase in the age of sale of tobacco to 18 in response to the consultation that was held over the summer of 2006. It was agreed that the measure will help to reduce the availability of tobacco to young people, reinforce the dangers of smoking and make it easier for retailers to comply with the law. I will now consider the two sets of draft regulations to be made under powers in the smoke free parts of the Health Act. The detailed provisions in the draft sets of regulations were subject to full public consultation in the second part of 2006. The drafts being considered today have been improved and strengthened based on the feedback that the Government have received from stakeholders and members of the public through the public consultation process. The Smoke-free (Exemptions and Vehicles) Regulations will apply only to England. I shall first go through the very limited exemptions to smoke free legislation, and then move on to vehicles that will have to be smoke free. As my noble friend Lord Warner set out during the passage of the Health Bill through this place lastyear, I want to be clear that the Government propose very few exemptions from the protection that this legislation will give the public and employees. It is important to reiterate that smoke-free legislation will not apply to private dwellings, apart from any part of a dwelling that is used solely for work for more than one person or where the public has access. Self-contained residential accommodation for temporary or holiday use will also not be required to be smoke free under this legislation, although the manager of the accommodation might choose to make it non-smoking. The regulations deal only with premises that would otherwise be required to be smoke free under the provisions of the Health Act. Exemptions are provided to allow managers to designate specific rooms for smoking in the following types of premises—hotels, guest houses, inns, hostels and members’ clubs, which may designate smoking bedrooms for the accommodation of guests or members. All other parts of the premises must be smoke free at all times. Dormitories and other shared accommodation that is made available under separate arrangements with the individuals who share that accommodation, such as in youth hostels, must be smoke free at all times. Care homes, hospices and prisons may designate either bedrooms or rooms to be used only for smoking for use by persons over the age of 18. Notwithstanding the exemption for prisons within these regulations, I can confirm that the Prison Service is to introduce stricter controls on smoking in prisons, which will apply to both publicly and privately-provided prisons. Residential mental health units may designate either bedrooms or rooms to be used only for smoking for use by persons over the age of 18 only until 1 July 2008, under provisions that were amended from the initial proposals published last year by the Government. The proposals in the regulations are made after consideration of the responses from stakeholders received from the department’s public consultation last year. Offshore installations may designate rooms to be used only for smoking. Research and testing facilities may designate rooms as not smoke-free only while the rooms are being used only for specified research or tests. Specialist tobacconist shops may allow people to sample cigars or pipe tobacco within the shop premises, but smoking of any other product, including cigarettes, is to be prohibited. Under the draft regulations, any premises that have designated rooms for smoking must meet a number of conditions for smoking to be permitted. If not all the conditions are met, the room would need to be required to be smoke free at all times. The conditions are designed to best protect people from second-hand smoke and are universally applicable, while not being unduly onerous or burdensome. The regulations also include an exemption for performers. Where the artistic integrity of a performance makes it appropriate for a person who is taking part in that performance to smoke, the part of the premises in which that person performs will not be required to be smoke free. The exemption to allow smoking applies to the performer only and only during the performance. Even though a limited number of exemptions will be made available by the regulations, there remains no obligation at all on people in charge of premises to implement exemptions to allow smoking within their premises. The regulations will also require vehicles to be smoke-free at all times if they are used either to transport members of the public, whether or not for reward or hire, or in the course of paid or voluntary work by more than one person, as either a driver or as a passenger, even if people use the vehicle for work at different times of the day, or only intermittently. Importantly, that reproduces the same level of protection for people in enclosed or substantially enclosed workplaces and public places which are vehicles as people will have in places that are not vehicles. Public or work vehicles that have a roof that can be stowed or removed will not be required to be smoke free when conveying people if the roof is completely removed or stowed, but the vehicle would be required to be smoke free if the roof is in place. Under the new law, a roof would include both a removable hard top as well as a canvas or fabric cover. Like private dwellings, private vehicles will notbe covered by smoke-free legislation. Under the regulations, a vehicle will not be required to be smoke-free if it is used primarily for the private purposes of a person who either owns the vehicle, or has a right to use the vehicle that is not restricted to a particular journey. That means, for example, that either a leased car provided to an employee under their employment contract or a rented car would not have to be smoke free if it is used primarily for private purposes. The drafting of the regulations has been improved by listening to stakeholders who responded to the public consultation that the department ran lastyear, by clarifying that private vehicles used only occasionally for work purposes would not be required to be smoke free. Finally, I turn to the Smoke-free (Penalties and Discounted Amounts) Regulations 2007. These regulations specify the fine levels for the three smoke-free offences set out in the Health Act, and will apply to both England and Wales. The proposals in these regulations have not changed from the draft regulations that were consulted on last summer, or indeed from what my noble friend Lord Warner, of Brockley, set out during the passage of the Health Bill through this place last year. To recap, I shall detail the fines for offences and penalties. First, the offence relating to the display of no-smoking signs is level 3 on the standard scale—currently £1,000—or a fixed penalty of £200 discounted to £150 if the penalty is paid within15 days from when the notice is issued. Secondly, the offence of smoking in a smoke-free place is level 1 on the standard scale—currently £200—or a fixed penalty of £50 discounted to £30. Thirdly, the offence of failing to prevent smoking in a smoke-free place is level 4 on the standard scale—currently £2,500—and there is no fixed penalty given for this offence. The levels set are fair and proportionate and reflect advice that was received from the Home Office and responses to earlier consultations that were held on smoke-free legislation. It is clear that fines for the offences of failing to display appropriate no smoking signs and failing to prevent smoking in smoke-free places have to be sufficient to act as a deterrent. Enforcement authorities will be working hard with businesses to support them to understand and to implement properly smoke-free legislation in their premises in the lead-up to 1 July, and the approachto enforcement will be non-confrontational. The Government are encouraging people to comply with the new laws from the outset, and if they do, no enforcement action, penalties or fines will be necessary. Of course, for most businesses, compliance will be straightforward, consisting of displaying no-smoking signs, and making sure they take the necessary action to ensure that people do not smoke in any enclosed or substantially enclosed part of their premises. I commend these regulations to the Committee. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Smoke-free (Penalties and Discounted Amounts) Regulations 2007. 8th Report from the Statutory Instruments Committee.—(Baroness Royall of Blaisdon.)