Debate contribution: Tobacco and Vapes Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Debate contribution by Mr Robin Swann on 21 May 2024.

MLA

Mr Robin Swann

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

21 May 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Tobacco and Vapes Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4491482

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank all Members who contributed to the debate. I thank those who said that they will support the LCM. I am not sure of Mr Carroll's position. He raised questions, but I do not think that he indicated whether he supports the LCM. I thank the Committee for its timely engagement on the LCM with officials and the Youth Assembly. That has proven to be helpful. Like others, I extend my thanks to the Youth Assembly for its extremely helpful contribution to this discussion. It is clear from that engagement that vaping is a key concern for young people. I am pleased that most Youth Assembly members were supportive of the Bill's proposals in that regard. As I said in my opening comments — this was reinforced by the Chair of the Committee — we will engage further with the Youth Assembly on these issues as our regulations are developed. I turn now to the specific issues raised. The Chair of the Committee raised the issue of engagement with the Republic of Ireland. I think that Mr Allister touched on that as well. There are regular informal meetings between tobacco control officials in my Department and their equivalents in the Irish Republic. There have been regular updates on those developments, including on consultations in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on smoking and vaping. There have been discussions with the Chief Medical Officer in the Republic of Ireland and direct engagements with the policy team there. Further engagement involved policy colleagues from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Stephen Donnelly, the Minister for Health, and Colm Burke, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, announced on 14 May that the Irish Cabinet had approved a proposal for legislation that would increase the age of sale of tobacco to 21. We are aware that the adoption of Tobacco 21 in the Republic of Ireland will create cross-border divergence. In time, however, it will still mean that no one on the island under the age of 21 will be able legally to buy cigarettes. Tobacco 21 and the smoke-free generation measures aim to achieve the same end, acting on the same population group over the same period. Beyond the age of 21, therefore, the chances of becoming a regular smoker are significantly reduced, but a smoke-free generation approach is expected to continue to provide beneficial reductions in smoking initiation.

The Chair also mentioned that the tobacco industry has lobbied intensively against a number of progressive tobacco-control measures by raising fears of the black market and criminal activity, to which the Institute of Public Health referred in its recent report for the Health Committee. Evaluations of the impact of those measures, however, repeatedly conclude that they do not contribute to increased rates of out-of-country purchases of illicit tobacco or cross-border purchases of tobacco and tobacco products. We are aware of the continued threat of illicit tobacco and the potential for it to dilute the effectiveness of legislative measures, but it is addiction to nicotine that drives the demand for illicit tobacco and vapes. With reduced addiction, we expect reduced demand. When the smoking age was increased from 16 to 18, the number of illicit cigarettes consumed fell by 25% and the smoking rates among 16- and 17-year-olds dropped by almost a third. Mr McGrath and Mr Durkan raised the issue of how shopkeepers and retailers will have to deal with the outworkings of the Bill. Members will be aware that assaulting a shopworker will be made a separate offence in England and Wales as part of a Government response to a wave of retail crime. Our Justice Minister has indicated that assaulting a retail worker can already be prosecuted under existing laws here that are designed to protect any member of the public from harm. She indicated, however, that she will give further consideration to including protections for those workers in the proposed sentencing Bill. Therefore, additional work is being done in that area. Mrs Dodds raised an issue about ensuring that the legislation was fair, deliverable and workable in bringing forward the regulations. I can confirm the powers that the Bill will introduce. It will provide powers to introduce a ban on the free distribution of nicotine products. Those powers will sit with my Department but will be subject to the draft affirmative procedure. The powers to regulate retail displays of nicotine products and non-nicotine vapes will also sit with my Department and will be subject to the draft affirmative procedure. When it comes to product standards and issues relating to e-cigarettes and nicotine products, the Secretary of State will bring forward UK-wide regulations, but that will be done with the consent of devolved Governments. Part 5 of the Bill provides the Secretary of State with UK-wide regulation-making powers on the potential extension of e-cigarette notifications, which would also have to be brought before the Assembly. Mrs Dodds also mentioned the visit of Cathy Brokenshire, which was timely. Many in the House had great respect for James Brokenshire when he was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. I thank Dame Arlene Foster for setting up the visit. Not only did Arlene and Cathy engage with party representatives but they met my Chief Medical Officer and deputy Chief Medical Officer on this issue. I look forward to further publicity and awareness events later in the year. I thank the Member for raising that. She also mentioned that the legislation will move through the House of Commons and the House of Lords. She may not be aware of this, but, yesterday, I met Minister Andrea Leadsom, the sponsoring Minister for the Bill. She indicated that she will meet the DUP Westminster team later today to work through some of the issues that the Member raised. I look forward to the positive outworkings of that. Mrs Dodds, along with other Members, raised the suggestion that retailers will be burdened with having to regularly distinguish between 39- and 40-year-olds when dealing with identification. That point does not take account of the already declining smoking rates among young people, which we hope, when combined with the Bill's measures, will result in a further decline in smoking prevalence among young people. While retailers may need to ID the cohort of smokers that are close to the legal-age boundary, it is expected that the number of smokers below the legal age of sale will continue to decline as a result of the legislation.

I will.

The Member raised that in her contribution. I will come to that. Working through the debate, I think that Mr McGrath mentioned cessation services. The tobacco strategy that has been talked about — the Committee Chair talked about it — is supported by the comprehensive action plan, which includes educational initiatives in schools. There is also, however, a stop smoking and vaping pilot service in schools in the south eastern area. The PHA is exploring models for supporting smoking cessation in disadvantaged communities, and there is continued investment in smoking cessation services. There is also an intention to further develop hospital inpatient smoking cessation support services. Our CMO has been clear that e-cigarettes should only ever be used as a short-term measure, and only to assist smokers who choose to use them in their efforts to quit, recognising that other licensed and effective quality-controlled nicotine replacement products are available, free of charge, through the Northern Ireland smoking cessation services, so it is not always necessary to resort to vapes for that purpose. Mrs Dodds spoke about the powers of the Secretary of State. There are provisions relating to vape and nicotine product standards that mirror the existing provisions in relation to tobacco that are set out in the Westminster Children and Families Act 2014. Those provisions allow for UK-wide regulations, with the consent, again, of devolved Administrations. As I said in my opening comments, I believe that there is a practical benefit to retaining as much consistency as possible in product rules, as a single regulation regime across the UK helps to ensure a coherent and operable enforcement regime in relation to those products. Something was raised by Mrs Dodds, Mr Chambers and Mr Allister, whom I thank for his support and for rightly using his political mandate to raise his concerns in relation to the outworkings of the Bill. He referred to the EU tobacco products directive, which is listed under annex 2 of the Northern Ireland protocol. Article 5(4) of the protocol states:

"Union law listed in Annex 2 ... shall also apply ... in ... Northern Ireland",

but the tobacco products directive is concerned with the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products. It includes restrictions such as limitations on the nicotine content of e-cigarettes, requirements for the manufacturers to report on ingredients in tobacco products and e-cigarettes, and a requirement for the provision of information to customers, including health warnings on packaging. Potential EU barriers were considered, in conjunction with the UK Government, during the development of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. We remain unaware of any barriers presented by the Windsor framework to the measures set out in the Bill being applied in Northern Ireland. I specifically raised that with Minister Leadsom yesterday, and she provided me with the reassurance that the work of her and my departmental officials and the legal advice that she has received indicates that that will not be an impediment.

I will.

It does concern me, as the Member knows, and that is why I raised that specific issue when I met Minister Leadsom yesterday. Our understanding, however, is that it is for the UK Government to ensure that Northern Ireland complies with the Windsor framework. Since this is a UK Government Bill, it will ultimately be for the UK Government to determine whether there are any barriers to our inclusion and to deal with any challenges in relation to that. I emphasise that we have been assured by the UK Government that no such barriers exist, but I recognise the Member's concerns and the position that he holds. I thank him for his support for the intent and the content of the LCM. I sincerely hope, for the sake of public health but also because of the Member's concerns, that it does not become an issue as a result of the Windsor framework and the protocol. I will move on to the issue that Nuala McAllister raised about enforcement. As we know, age-of-sale restrictions already exist in Northern Ireland, and enforcement of them falls to our councils. The Department actively engages via the PHA and funds tobacco control officers to carry out test purchasing activity and to engage with retailers to support compliance with tobacco legislation. We envisage those arrangements continuing. We will engage again with councils in the coming weeks to seek their views on any additional operational challenges from the new regime. Council enforcement officers are represented on the tobacco strategy steering group, and we are aware of their support for the measures. Detailed discussions on enforcement will be arranged with them in the coming weeks. We are confident, however, that we can work together to ensure effective and efficient enforcement. I have covered most of the specific concerns that Members raised. We know that countries around the world are considering ways in which to address further the harms of tobacco use and the growing use of vapes among young people. It is critical that Northern Ireland not be left behind on such significant public health initiatives. As Members will be aware, a key element of the reform of our health service is enabling people to stay well for longer. The Bill offers a huge opportunity to do just that. In 2006, we introduced legislation banning smoking in indoor public places and workplaces. At the time, such legislation was not without its challenges, but it is now heralded as being one of the most important pieces of public health legislation of our time. The Bill offers us a similar opportunity to take bold action to protect our children and grandchildren from the misery that tobacco use brings and to protect them from new forms of nicotine addiction. I thank my officials for their work on the LCM and also for their engagement during the lack of a functioning Assembly. I thank Members for their acknowledgement of that work. I commend the motion to the House.

2,076 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:32 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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