Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display of Prices) (England) Regulations 2010

My Lords, I am here today to move two sets of affirmative regulations on tobacco control. The first, the Protection from Tobacco (Sales from Vending Machines)(England) Regulations 2010, prohibit tobacco sales from vending machines. The second, the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display of Prices)(England) Regulations 2010, regulate the display of tobacco price lists and price labels to coincide with the removal of tobacco displays Noble Lords will know that the Health Act 2009 included provisions on tobacco sales from vending machines and the prohibition of tobacco displays. Four separate sets of tobacco control regulations have been laid, two of which I am moving today. A further two sets of regulations, on removing tobacco displays and on specialist tobacconists, were laid on 2 March 2010 under the negative procedure. A public consultation on all four sets of regulations ran until 4 January 2010. The Summary of consultation responses, the Government’s response and consultation report, was published on the Department of Health’s website on 26 February. I can assure the Committee that health Ministers have carefully considered all the consultation responses received. The consultation played an important role in informing the final regulations. The problem of youth smoking is something we are all concerned about. As the Committee will recall, we had a great deal of debate about it during consideration of the Health Act last year. This Government strongly believe that we have a responsibility to do everything that we can to protect young people from becoming addicted to tobacco and to support those people who are already addicted who want to quit. The Department of Health recently published A Smokefree Future, the new tobacco control strategy, which sets out the Government’s vision for protecting young people and the public from the health harms of smoking. These regulations are part of this package of work to help young people resist starting to smoke and to support adult smokers to quit. The risks of smoking are well documented and have been well rehearsed in earlier debates. I do not intend to go through them all again during this debate, but they show why we must continue to focus on tobacco control. As noble Lords will appreciate, the regulations prohibiting all tobacco sales from vending machines, the Protection from Tobacco (Sales from Vending Machines)(England) Regulations 2010, are very brief; in fact, there are only two regulations. Apart from providing that the sale of tobacco products from vending machines be prohibited, they also provide important clarity about who would be liable for any breach. The person who controls or is responsible for the management of the premises where the machine is located would commit an offence if tobacco sales were made from a vending machine. We are very concerned about how easily children can access tobacco in vending machines, and that availability of tobacco from machines undermines efforts by adult smokers to quit. Evidence shows that, in 2008, vending machines were a usual source of cigarettes for 12 per cent of young people aged 11 to 15 who were regular smokers. Evidence from the latest data on local authority test purchases from vending machines during 2008-09 shows that under-18s were able to make illegal purchases from the majority—58 per cent—of vending machines tested across England. These data showed that more than one in four vending machines was unsupervised. It demonstrates that, even after more than 10 years, the voluntary code of practice to prevent children buying cigarettes from vending machines is not working effectively and is a totally inadequate safeguard against under-age sales. Action to prohibit sales from vending machines should not be seen in isolation. Of course we have taken, and will continue to take, action to tackle other sources of tobacco used by children. We take seriously the need to consider the impact on business. The regulations do not commence until October 2011, giving businesses and employees time to prepare. We have fully taken into account consultation responses about the effect on business, but we are satisfied that the impact on businesses does not outweigh the clear public health benefit of the regulations. When it comes to public health, the cost of acting must be balanced by the cost of not acting. We also believe that the regulations will be easy to understand for businesses and will be far simpler to enforce than current legislation requiring local authorities to carry out test purchases. Taking all the arguments into account, I believe that removing this easy source of cigarettes for children is a responsible and proportionate response to the problem. The Government know that, despite the voluntary code, a significant number of children still get cigarettes from vending machines. The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display of Prices)(England) Regulations 2010 are part of a package of three sets of regulations flowing from the prohibition of tobacco displays under Section 21 of the Health Act 2009. The regulations set out the size, appearance and number of price lists and price labels retailers are able to use so that customers know what tobacco products are available for sale. While detailed, they are straightforward in their purpose and effect. We have seen how the ban on advertising resulted in the tobacco industry exploiting tobacco displays to actively promote tobacco products. In a similar way, once product displays are removed, we must guard against tobacco price lists being exploited and turned into brand promotions. However, retailers must be able to carry out their day-to-day business of selling cigarettes. It is essential that retailers are able to let customers know which products they sell and at what price, and that staff know where different products are stored once tobacco shelving is covered over. We have worked closely with stakeholders throughout the drafting of the regulations to ensure that they are effective and practical, which is why the regulations allow for prices to be displayed in different ways—in separate lists or labels attached to shelving. But the regulations ensure that such price labels cannot include any form of product branding, whether through the use of the particular colours or the particular typesettings associated with different brands. A pictorial list is allowed where it is needed and asked for by a customer, but only on request. This will ensure that customers who, for whatever reason, are not be able to read English are able to identify the brand they want by recognising its picture. We carefully considered all the responses to the consultation and a number of changes have been made to the regulations which take account of stakeholders’ views on their practicality. For example, the maximum size of a price list, as set out in Regulation 6(1)(b)(vi), has been increased from roughly A4 to roughly A3, recognising that A4 was too small to allow shops to list all the products that they sell. Regulation 6(1)(b)(ii) now allows price lists to include generic sub-headings to show different types of product such as cigarettes, cigars or tobacco. Under Regulation 5(a), all price lists and labels may now include information to describe cigars—the country of origin and dimensions—and the cut and type of tobacco in pipe tobaccos. We have provided a clearer definition in Regulation 2 of "bulk tobacconists", which recognises the specific needs of these traders while ensuring that no loopholes are created. This approach is in keeping with the display regulations. We have listened to retailers. These are all sensible changes to make. On the other hand, the public health lobby are concerned to limit the potential impact of numerous lists and labels which must, by their nature, include product brand names. Recognising the public health arguments, the regulations no longer allow the use of bold typeface as this could be exploited to emphasise particular brands. Regulation 5(b)(i) now refers to only "plain type". Under Regulation 6(2), price lists will be limited to one for each area where tobacco is sold, rather than one for each till where products can be paid for. I believe that the final regulations strike the right balance between protecting public health and recognising the needs of businesses. For the reasons I have explained, I commend both sets of regulations to the Committee.