I am grateful for how the Minister responded. I think that the last point she made was really important. The Government have been talking about restrictions on the ability of the devolved Administrations to sell, yet on the point that my noble friend Lord Fox made—that the Government for England have banned not the use but the sale of household coal—the Minister said that it would be possible to continue to provide household coal in England through a Welsh or online retailer. It is quite extraordinary that the undermining of public policy along those lines could be operated, but the Government seem to be perfectly content about that. However, the transparency on that, at least, has been helpful.
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This is now, I think, the third time that we have tried to press the Government on whether the sale of alcohol would be treated differently from the policy of minimum unit pricing. On the previous group, the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, gave a very comprehensive response on how the policy of minimum unit pricing will be affected. We are fully aware that it will be covered under non-discrimination only if there are substantial changes to it, because it is an existing measure. The question that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, asked, which was similar to questions that I had asked before, was about provisions on the sale of alcohol. So clarity on that would be useful.
My third question is absolutely not meant to be a “gotcha”. I did not give notice to the Minister and it has not been raised, so perhaps she will be able to write to me. It comes from information provided by Universities Scotland, which is interested in whether “sale” would effectively cover tuition fees as the purchase
of a good. Under this legislation, higher education is not considered to be a public authority. Public authorities are excluded under this part of the Bill, but higher education, as a provider—like, for example, the NHS—is potentially not excluded. If the Minister could write to me on that, it would be very helpful, and I think that Universities Scotland will benefit from having clarity on how it will be treated under the sale and purchase of either goods or services.