Health Bill [HL]

I shall speak to Amendments 107 and 107B, which are in my name and those of other noble Lords. Amendment 107 would give the Government extra tools to evaluate more effectively measures which are aimed at controlling marketing by the tobacco industry, especially that which may be aimed at young people. I am extremely glad that, whatever side of this debate that we are on, there seems to be general agreement that children should not start smoking and that cigarettes are not a good, even if they are, for historic reasons, lawful. All of us approve any decline in consumption. I therefore hope that I can command support for the amendments. Amendment 107 would give the Government powers to require tobacco manufacturers to disclose the scale and scope of their marketing activities. This information is essential if the Government are to identify and develop effective policy responses to marketing tactics used by the industry to get round the ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship. All the information will be published in aggregate at industry level, as in the case of the US and Canada, rather than identifying individual companies. As we know, the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 sought especially to reduce the power of tobacco manufacturers to recruit new, young smokers. The Act has dealt effectively with the conspicuous marketing which is generally described as "above the line" advertising. It failed to deal with what the industry calls "below the line" advertising such as price promotions, retailer incentives and point-of-sale display—we have heard a bit about that. The evidence suggests that there has been an expansion of below-the-line promotional activity. It is possible to identify a number of activities which are designed to get round the advertising ban. We heard last Thursday and on Monday from the noble Lord, Lord Rea, and from the noble Lords, Lord Patel and Lord Rea, today about the famous Mr Good of Imperial Tobacco. I remind the Committee that he spoke of the 2002 ban and the need, as he put it, for its marketing team to become more creative. We have heard a little about how he sought to do that. He noted the increase in sales from changing the appearance of a particular pack. Mr Good has become very famous in these Lords debates during the past few days. I feel that he may be rather more reticent in future, but I welcome his openness on this point. Whether he is still with Imperial Tobacco, I would be very interested to know. Requiring the industry to provide information on these activities is essential if the Government are to monitor the creative measures that the industry will develop and to which Mr Good referred. The Canadian reporting regulations require the industry to report on how much it pays to retailers, which has been extremely useful in providing evidence that, even after a retail display ban is implemented, the industry continues to pay retailers for handling and selling tobacco products. My noble friend Lady Barker asked some extremely pertinent Written Questions in this area, seeking to find out whether the UK Government had figures on how much tobacco companies had spent on marketing within the United Kingdom in the past five years, whether the figures were based on estimates, were collected by the Government or supplied by the tobacco companies, and related questions. The Answer came that the department had requested information from the tobacco industry on its payments to retailers for the display of tobacco products in shops, but the tobacco industry has for some reason refused to provide such information. The Government do not have the powers to require the tobacco companies to report on marketing expenditure and, therefore, given such lack of co-operation, hold no such information. I therefore trust that the Minister will see the amendment as a very useful tool to have at her disposal or that the tobacco industry will decide that it is best to reveal that information. Amendment 107B was also mentioned in an exchange on Monday. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is an international treaty of the World Health Organisation to which the UK is a party. Article 5.3 seeks to protect public health policy from the influence of the tobacco industry. It states that when parties to the treaty are setting and implementing public health policies related to tobacco control, they shall, ""act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry"." We are all very well aware of those tactics, understandable as of course they are— Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.