Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hollins]

I do not have an explanation for the kinds of advertising that have been approved, but some advertising is still permitted. The information that is being put out is that no advertising is allowed.

There are particular concerns for people with serious mental illness, given that about one-third of all tobacco consumption is by people with current mental health problems. I could go into some of the complications of smoking and the relationship between nicotine and some of the psychotropic medications that are used. The Royal College of Psychiatrists states that e-cigarettes,

“seem to be fairly effective in helping smokers stop or control their smoking”,

but it goes on to say:

“Although they seem to be safe, we aren’t yet clear about longer-term health risks”.

Any benefits or disadvantages to public health are not yet well established. This reflects concerns over e-cigarettes’ effectiveness as a smoking cessation aid, the variability of the components of e-cigarette vapour and the absence of the significant health benefit associated with the dual use of e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes. The BMA strongly believes that a regulatory framework is essential. I hope that noble Lords will agree with the medical experts who have supported these regulations.

[Baroness O'Cathain (Con)]

My Lords, this has been a very interesting debate so far; it has been good-humoured and full of humour. I was glad to hear the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, talk about the seriousness of this situation.

I and at least two other people whom I see in the Chamber at the moment fought like tigers to make sure that smoking was banned in public places. We did it because all the evidence suggested that it was a terrible scourge on people who were addicted to tobacco and smoking and just could not break the link. From a personal point of view, I come from a family of five, of whom four died prematurely from either smoking or the effects of tobacco. I know of friends who have similarly died and those have not been very pleasant deaths either. I am not saying that vaping will cause that problem, but why do we need it? They say, “Okay, it’s part of a smoking cessation thing”. I really do not believe it; I think that e-cigarettes should be banned totally and more money put into helping smoking cessation programmes. Such programmes have worked, so why not carry on with them?

I should not say this, but I am going to: nobody knows just how manipulative the tobacco industry was during the period when we were fighting it. It was quite disgraceful—I see my fellow in arms, the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, looking at me and agreeing. I am concerned that, with our having gone through all this and now reducing the amount of money spent on smoking cessation programmes, we will find in another 20 or 30 years—well, I will not be around—that we are doing it all again and people will be smoking. So I just say: please take care.

[Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for referring to me and the part that a number of us played in making the United Kingdom a leader in attempting to reduce the prevalence of tobacco smoking. As your Lordships will recall, it was this House which passed the amendments to the then Children and Families Bill which led to the UK being the first country in Europe to introduce standardised packaging in 2014. Incidentally, it is my understanding that, if the regulations being debated today were annulled, that legislation on standardised packaging would be badly damaged. I would be grateful if the Minister would comment on that.

As the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, said, the regulations are an important part of the way in which the United Kingdom should meet its obligations to the international tobacco treaty, one requirement of which is that we take continuing action to cut smoking prevalence through “comprehensive tobacco control” strategies. The regulations include other important measures such as the prohibition of flavours in cigarettes, including menthol, designed to attract young people to start to smoke. There are new reporting obligations on the tobacco industry, and rules on notifying new tobacco products. These provisions are important and should not be lost by way of some attempt to make the climate easier for vaping.

Palliative Care

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2015 Grand Committee

[Baroness O’Cathain (Con)]

My Lords, I begin by welcoming the report from the Economist Intelligence Unit that was released earlier this month. As my noble friend Lord Farmer pointed out, along with the WHO, it puts the UK ahead of every other country in the world for providing end-of-life care, as it did in 2010. The report praises the “strong hospice movement” in this country. The work of our hospice movement is something for which we can and should be very thankful. I feel passionately about palliative care. Indeed, I have raised it on several occasions in this House. It is important to say that, as a Christian, I believe that every single human being has an intrinsic value and the right to live the life that God gave them, no matter how old, ill or disabled that person may be. God gave us that life, and I believe that God has the ultimate say in when it will end.

Dame Cicely Saunders, who is widely regarded as the founder of the modern hospice movement, shared this Christian outlook. She became convinced of the paramount importance of combining excellent medical and nursing care with holistic support that recognises the practical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of those who are dying. I constantly quote the second great commandment, where we are commanded by God to love our neighbour, and that means in whatever circumstances they find themselves in. Dame Cicely also used another expression, which was quoted at her memorial service:

“You matter because you are”,

who you are,

“and you matter to the last moment of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die”.

It is often said that a society is measured by how it treats its frailest and most vulnerable members. I want the UK to be a nation that prizes every citizen, not one that treats those coming to the end of life as useless and a waste of resources. I very much welcome the overwhelming rejection of the assisted suicide Bill last month by the other place, and I trust that the vote settles the matter for a long time to come. If assisted suicide or euthanasia were ever legalised, many people would be put under pressure to end their lives for fear of becoming a burden upon friends, family or the healthcare system. Instead, as I have said before in this House, the really humane solution to suffering lies in improving palliative care, not in helping people to kill themselves, as some would have us think.

There is no doubt that much more work has to be done to make our provision of palliative care better, especially in the NHS. The World Health Assembly resolution last year urged its 194 member states to recognise the importance of good-quality palliative care and to ensure its funding. End of life care may be expensive, but the reality is that almost no patient is beyond the help of pain-relieving medicine. If we want to be a nation that truly values every citizen, not just because of their contribution to society, then good care at the end of life is imperative. It can help people who are experiencing physical or mental pain to see that they are valued and that their life is worth living.

NHS Property Services Ltd

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I can assure my noble friend of that. The company ensures best value by marketing through an arm’s-length open market process, which ensures that the market value is achieved in a sale. Where necessary, the sale price is supported by a district valuer or other third-party independent valuation.

[Baroness O'Cathain (Con)]

My Lords, I ask my noble friend: when people are appointing chairmen to such organisations, could they look at their skill sets in advance rather than getting rid of them because of their lack of skill sets?

EU: Food Labelling

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, as the noble Baroness will know, there are various points of view from various sectors of industry about what constitutes the best and most helpful form of food labelling. As a matter of fact, that has lain at the heart of the difficulty in reaching agreement in Europe, because there are so many divergent views around this. It is quite true that we do have very strongly held views—not least by the Food Standards Agency—about the value of traffic lights. We have equally strong views, held by certain sectors of industry, on the GDA model. As I said earlier in answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, it would be desirable to have consistency, but we are not there yet. We will continue to work at that objective.

[Baroness O'Cathain]

My Lords, first, has any research been done on the proportion of the population that actually reads these labels; secondly, are people able to read them; thirdly, do they understand them if they do read them; and, fourthly, what about magnifying glasses?

[Earl Howe]

One advantageous feature of the regulation, my noble friend will be pleased to hear, is provision on the legibility and font size of labels, which I am sure we all welcome. In 2009, the Food Standards Agency commissioned some research to examine which front-of-pack labelling system performed best, and the main finding was that the strongest performing front-of-pack label is one which combines the use of the words “high”, “medium” and “low”, traffic light colours and the percentage of guideline daily amount, in addition to levels of nutrients. That was the same across all socioeconomic groups.

Health: Passive Smoking

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Tuesday 30th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Thornton]

My Lords, following the successful implementation of the smoking ban in all workplaces and public places in July 2007, which was opposed by many in the party opposite, will the Minister undertake—

[Baroness O'Cathain]

No.

[Baroness Thornton]

I except the noble Baroness, Lady O’Cathain, from that.

Will the Minister undertake to ensure that, under the proposals for GP commissioning, NHS smoking cessation services will continue to be effectively commissioned and funded and that nicotine products will continue to be prescribed?

Contaminated Blood (Support for Infected and Bereaved Persons) Bill [HL]

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Friday 22nd October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness O'Cathain]

My Lords, I rise to speak briefly in the gap. I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Morris, as I have spoken in support of him in this Chamber from the very start of his campaign but, due to my lack of attention to detail, I did not realise that this debate was taking place today. However, everything that I wanted to say has been said in the most moving and compassionate way.

Promises have been broken, victims have been betrayed and trust has been compromised—all of this, I am afraid, is accepted. I have three hopes. The first is that the response from my noble friend will be positive and compassionate. Secondly, I hope that this debt, which is much easier to settle than the debts that this Government have inherited, will be settled. Thirdly, I hope—this is probably the vainest hope of the lot—that the media will find it in their hearts to support the Bill, cover the speeches made today and realise that this debate is something on which this House scores. It is a good news story, and we have a role to play in the Parliament of this country.