Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [HL]

Baroness Smith of Llanfaes Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 26th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hope of Craighead (CB)]

My Lords, I would like to say a quick word about Amendment 3 from the noble Lord, Lord Lansley. It has the attraction of introducing the word “safe” into the Bill, which does not appear anywhere else. The Bill uses the word “safety” and talks about minimising risk and so on. It recognises that products may involve some element of risk, whereas the amendment suggested by the noble Lord talks about eliminating risk. It is a desirable aim in itself, but I am not quite sure how that can be achieved. The noble Lord asked the Minister to say that the Bill is saying the same thing as he is, so he will not have to press his amendment. It seems to me that there is a real difference, and it is a very interesting difference, so I think that may be stretching the matter too far.

[Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (PC)]

My Lords, I apologise for not being involved in earlier discussions on the Bill. I rise in support of Amendment 26, which attracted me to contribute to today’s discussion. As a young woman and a user of these products, I was very shocked and surprised to hear about the different chemicals in them. A lot of young women would also be surprised and shocked to know about these chemicals, that they are not advertised, and that this information is not shared with the products’ users. I commend the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, on bringing forward this very important amendment, and I urge the House to support it.

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

My Lords, we are on Report, and I draw this House’s attention to the report by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, which I am on. We certainly put the Minister through his paces and took the unusual step of asking him to give us evidence, because we felt that the Bill was skeletal and had regulatory powers, which we will come on to in a later group of amendments.

I want to use our latest discussion on Report to address support for Amendment 9. The importance of consultation has been brought up. I am most grateful— I am speaking personally and not on behalf of the committee—to the Minister for meeting with me and others from the committee to draw the consultation phases to our attention.

I hope that in summing up, the Minister will also cover the issue of consultation where there is a potential mismatch of products. The problem with lithium batteries is that people buy the batteries and chargers separately; it is when they put them together that the chance of a fire goes up dramatically, not when the right charger is bought with the right battery. We are dealing with a complex world, and I am well aware that there are an enormous number of regulations to be made, potentially, some of which are very complicated. Consultation will be critical to make sure that they are appropriate.