Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Debate between Lord Lansley and Earl Russell

Report stage
Tuesday 3rd March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lansley (Con)]

My Lords, I am glad to be able to introduce this group and, in particular, to speak to my Amendment 124. This group is about the features of products in Clauses 89 and 90—not the ones that we have just discussed but in particular the technology features to be found in products.

If I can jog to the later amendments, government Amendments 130 and 132 and my Amendment 131 relate to a subject that a number of noble Lords will recall we discussed in Committee. We discussed whether there should be powers in the Bill to regulate the technology in vapes such that the mechanism for regulation would not only be at point of sale but could also be at point of use. My Amendment 131 is designed specifically to achieve that. The Minister has been listening again, and I am pleased to have the opportunity again to thank her for her engagement and that of officials. I also thank her for the amendments she has now brought forward.

The Minister’s Amendments 130 and 132 together would have the effect of allowing for the features of a product to include the technology associated with that and, in Amendment 132, the software included with that technology. What is the point of that? It is to be able to secure that known technology which would allow age gating and verification, linking the electronics in the vape to a smartphone with age verification built into it. This would enable us to provide that only verified adults would be able to use vapes.

What is really interesting is that this is not speculative: the technology is presented to the Food and Drug Administration in America and the latest information I have from IKE Tech, which I thank for its work on this, is the application for a pre-market tobacco product, including a human factors study. In tests, 100% of adults were able to access the product successfully, while 0% of under-age users were able to do so. It is an effective technology.

If I can anticipate the Minister’s view, it is that Ministers are not yet convinced that this is the approach to take; they want to ensure that there is effective point of sale verification. However, I hope they agree that, given the progress that has been made, not least through the FDA in America, which will be demonstrated in a substantial market, the combination of point of sale and point of use may be necessary in future to achieve the level of assurance about age gating to vapes that we want to achieve. At the moment—the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, is not with us at the moment, so I am able to quote from Action on Smoking and Health—ASH tells us that nearly half of under-age vapers are buying them from shops, so there is a substantial job to be done. We know that nearly a quarter of under-age vapers receive them via proxy purchases. We will not eliminate proxy purchases through the point of sale restriction, but age gating, in the technology of the product itself, may achieve exactly that.

I think we are all agreed—at least, I hope we are —following the debate in Committee, when we were supported by my noble friends on the Front Bench, as well as the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, and the Liberal Democrat Benches, that we want to have this power available, and I hope that Ministers will look actively at whether this is a desirable thing to achieve. Government Amendments 130 and 132 will achieve that.

There is also the question of Amendment 124, which is the basis of this debate. It relates to Clause 89 and the technology essentially in the packaging of vaping and nicotine products. I shall not press the amendment, because I am assured by the Minister in our conversations that the powers available in Clause 89 would allow that the kind of technology for authentication of a product can be specified. We want to put into products a smart tag, which we discussed previously, and is effectively a near field communication tag embedded in the packaging to enable tracking of illicit products, giving real-time identification of the history of a product by enforcement authorities. It would also enable retailers and consumers with the appropriate technology in their smartphones to assure themselves of the authenticity and safety of a product that was available to them, doing so in a way which, unlike QR codes which can be copied, and some of the other coding systems presently used, can be done in a unique token ID system embedded in blockchain, meaning that it would not be able to be removed, copied or circumvented. I hope that the Minister will be able to assure us that Clause 89 already has the powers necessary to include technology as sophisticated as this. I beg to move.

[Earl Russell (LD)]

My Lords, this group relates to the technology in devices. Government Amendments 130 and 132 are, we understand, designed to future-proof this legislation, particularly to prevent the placing of video games inside vaping devices. We on these Benches welcome the intention and the future-proofing of the legislation. This is of the utmost importance; we see it time and again and are right to expect that the tobacco industry will react to this legislation when it hits the statute book.

This is not abstract—it is based on real-life evidence and real-life vapes that exist. Cigarette companies are now producing vaping devices that incorporate video games, particularly retro video games, and even virtual pets. For some, this might appear as not that important or essential, but nothing could be further from the truth. The linking of nicotine addiction with a gaming addiction, and the linking with different rewards and sensory interactions, are extremely powerful and the motivation is only about increasing profits for Big Tobacco.

Looking at it in more detail so that your Lordships understand, the points that users can get in the games on the vaping devices are linked to the number of puffs they take, how frequently they take them and how often they interact with their vaping device. They can compare scores with their friends, and virtual pets can die if people do not take enough nicotine. This might look playful, but it is about feeding and deepening individual addiction to these devices. They are extremely powerful and harmful, particularly to the young people at whom they are aimed.

One of these new devices has apparently been viewed over 12 million times. British American Tobacco’s latest device, Vuse Ultra, was recently dubbed “the future of vaping”. These devices are available in the UK, and the market will inevitably grow if there are loopholes in the legislation. The devices push the boundaries, so it is important that the Government regulate them.

As we heard, the oversight remains weak, as do trading standards; the devices get into our young people’s hands; they might predominantly be purchased in shops, through friends or even sometimes parents. Online restrictions are not as good as they should be. These are important issues.

We welcome the two government amendments, but is the Minister convinced that the Government really have all the powers they need to future-proof this legislation? Do they feel that they have adequate powers in the Bill and future regulations to prevent vaping devices being linked to any form of online data collection and storage; to prevent the linking of vapes to apps in phones via Bluetooth, QR codes or joining the website; to stop the linking of users’ individual puff counts to games or online collection; and to stop the actual connection between the number and times of puffs taken and access to forms of promotion, discount or VIP passes? This is clearly where the industry would like to go if the guardrails are not provided by the Government.

I also welcome the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Lansley. Speaking to the words that he used, the hope is that government Amendments 132 and 130 will cover Amendment 131, but it would be good to have the Minister confirm that.

Finally, Amendment 124 is about the technology within the packaging and whether the Government feel that they have the powers they need to put in these near-field tracking devices to make sure that these are genuine products, not fraudulent or unreal. Do the Government need Amendment 124 to feel they can make sure that the products available in the shops are legal and not counterfeit, or are they satisfied with what they have?

Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Debate between Lord Lansley and Earl Russell

Committee stage
Wednesday 17th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lansley (Con)]

My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 306, which is in this group in my name, but I want to make a number of other points. First, I want to note that we have just agreed Clause 65. I remember that my noble friend Lord Caithness did ask a question in a previous group at an earlier time about the opportunity to challenge an environmental delivery plan, to which the answer was that there was a provision for that somewhere. This is indeed true; it is in Clause 65, which we have just agreed. I will just point out—we may need to return to it and check that we are clear—it is a challenge by way of judicial review; there is not the opportunity to challenge an environmental delivery plan in circumstances where one believes that the facts and the evidence are wrong. The merits of the decisions may not be challenged; only the procedural aspects may be challenged by way of judicial review.

I mention that because, in this group, my noble friend in his subsection (1)(c) of the new clause in Amendment 308 refers to a right of appeal in relation to the establishment of the levy. This is an appeal on a question of fact, so it is a different kind of an appeal for a different purpose. I think that it is rather a good thing, but the question is: to whom should it go? Clause 70 sets out that there may be an appeal, but, unfortunately, it does not say to whom, or how or whatever. Do the Government happen to know to whom the appeal will be made? When I look at Clause 69 and the provisions setting out at some length how the charging schedules may be established in regulations, it seems to me awfully similar to the legislation that provides for the community infrastructure levy, for those who recognise these things. An appeal against the community infrastructure levy would be to the District Valuer Services, so it might be sensible for Ministers, if they can do nothing else, to at least tell us if it is the intention that the District Valuer Services would undertake the work on charging schedules and levy amounts for the environmental delivery plans.

The point of my Amendment 306 is to acknowledge that we have this lengthy set of clauses that tell us that the EDP must be calculated in relation to its costs and that that must be turned into a charging schedule. Clearly, we cannot assume that the development will be the responsibility of any one person; it may be the responsibility of many persons. The charging schedule is actually very like a community infrastructure levy charged against the development, and indeed it might be imposed, and the charging schedules could, as Clause 69 says, be determined by reference to the nature and/or the amount of development. It could be very like a community infrastructure levy for commercial purposes; it could be so many pounds per square foot and so on. If it is very like it, it would be quite useful to know that.

The Minister might say there is not really a requirement on local authorities to consult about a community infrastructure levy, but actually many do. I hope that the Minister will be able to say that, when an environmental delivery plan is proposed, it will be the intention of Natural England to talk to the people who are potentially liable to pay the levy. Otherwise, I am not quite sure how we arrive at the point, which the legislation appears to anticipate, that the developers would volunteer and request to pay the levy. They need to know about it and be consulted. They should also be consulted about the charging schedule, not with a view to agreeing it, but certainly to be able to understand the nature of the additional costs.

This is linked to the second point in my amendment, which is about the regulations setting out when and how a viability assessment might be undertaken. Often, for developers, the viability assessment that matters is the one that starts out the development—at the point at which one is buying the land, at the point at which one is understanding the costs, at the point at which one puts all these potential costs together and says, “How much is this option worth? How much is this land worth?” The later viability assessments are potentially very burdensome and may torpedo a development, but that is not what we want to do. We want to arrive at an understanding at the earliest possible stage of what all the costs look like.

The regulations should provide for Natural England to talk to the potential developers who might pay the levy and make provision if necessary for a viability assessment to be undertaken at a relatively early point. To that extent, it is a probing amendment, because I want to be sure that these things will happen. They can, under the legislation, be included in the guidance that is to be provided. The question is: will they? If Ministers cannot say that they will do so, perhaps they ought to reconsider or at least look at whether the regulations should provide for that.

In Clause 69, when the amount of the levy has been determined, we suddenly encounter the proposal that the environmental delivery plan may be mandatory. I have not found the place where we understand in what circumstances and for what reasons the levy becomes mandatory as opposed to voluntary. I would be grateful if the Minister, either at this stage or at a later stage, would explain that to us.

[Earl Russell (LD)]

My Lords, I speak to my Amendment 304 in this group on the payment of the NRF levy and appeals. This amendment seeks to ensure that

“the cost of works for nature restoration and enhancement are covered by the developer, in accordance with the Polluter Pays Principle. The setting of the Levy schedule should act as a deterrent to developments that would have an outsized impact on the natural environment, redirecting them to locations with lower environmental impacts”.

This is an amendment to Clause 67 aiming to define the fundamental purpose of the nature restoration levy and to embed a core principle of environmental justice into the legislation. In this way, the amendment is quite different from the others in this group, and it is important. It proposes that the Bill explicitly states that the Secretary of State, in making regulations for the levy,

“must ensure that the overall purpose of the nature restoration levy is to ensure that costs incurred in maintaining and improving the conservation status of environmental features are funded by the developer”.

It further clarifies:

“The setting of the Levy schedule should act as a deterrent to developments that would have an outsized impact”,


thereby redirecting them. This is important to make sure that we are not just permitting this kind of damage.

I thank the Ministers for their letter earlier today. I was in Committee this morning, so I have not managed to go through it fully, but there are still concerns about the nature restoration fund and developers paying to offset and the potential impacts that exist in the Bill. My amendment seeks to change this by requiring the Secretary of State to ensure that the overall purpose of the levy regulations is that developments remain economically viable. The approach in the Bill has been identified by the Office for Environmental Protection as risking leaving the process open to economic compromise. The Wildlife Trusts, similarly, has articulated that it is essential that it is not the case and that achieving overall environmental improvement should be an absolute priority within the new system. It argues that that would

“correct the oddity of clauses which are meant to be environmental in character having an economic viability overall purpose”.

The amendment directly addresses this flaw by placing nature restoration, funded by the developer, as a primary overarching purpose of the levy. In so doing, it does three things. As I said, it upholds the “polluter pays” principle. It prioritises nature recovery; it ensures that the nature restoration levy is a tool for delivering genuine ecological improvements rather than a mechanism designed primarily to facilitate development viability at nature’s expense, and it directs the levy to act as a deterrent. A robust levy set appropriately will incentivise developers to choose sites with lower environmental impacts, thereby proactively safeguarding our natural environment and preventing irreversible harm.

This is a sensible amendment. I welcome the other amendments in this group, which I read as probing amendments, so I am interested to see what the Minister says in response to those. This is an important matter. I look forward to having further discussions with the Minister prior to Report and to her response.

Crown Estate Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Lansley and Earl Russell

Report stage
Tuesday 5th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lansley (Con)]

My Lords, I agree with my noble friend on the Front Bench about the desirability of there being some form of prior parliamentary scrutiny over the appointment of a chair of the Crown Estate. My entry in the register of interests shows that I am chair of the Cambridgeshire Development Forum, of which the Crown Estate is a member. Sir Robin Budenberg has done a very good job but is retiring, so a question will rapidly arise. As we consider the Bill and think that it has been 63 years since the Crown Estate Act 1961, there is a good case for the public interest to be examined through that scrutiny when somebody is appointed whose principal purpose will probably be to represent the public interest in relation to the continuing functions of the Crown Estate.

However, I do not agree with my noble friend about Amendment 14. It probes the question—I hope the Minister will see it in that light—of how the disposal of assets by the Crown Estate is properly scrutinised. Noble Lords will recall that in Committee I referred to the duties of the Crown Estate commissioners under the 1961 Act, which the Minister just referred to. I also referred to their duty under Section 3 of that Act not to dispose of assets other than on

“best consideration in money or money’s worth”.

Given that we are trying to maintain the Crown Estate’s commercial operations, with prudential limits in relation to those assets, the duties in the 1961 Act should suffice.

I hope my noble friend will not press Amendment 14. Given the role of the Crown Estate as a major developer of potentially significant interest in the science parks to the north of Cambridge, for example, its disposals as a major developer may easily and rapidly reach £10 million in the course of a year. The bureaucracy and intervention that would be required thereafter by this amendment would be unreasonable, and I do not want us to impose those kinds of onerous obligations on the Crown Estate commissioners. If they fail to meet their duties, we can see that there are means by which the Treasury can intervene in order to establish that those duties are being met.

[Earl Russell (LD)]

My Lords, I rise briefly to speak to Amendment 2 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Vere of Norbiton. This simple amendment seeks that the chair of the Crown Estate commissioners be appointed by the Treasury Select Committee. On these Benches, this seems like a reasonably sensible idea. This is an important appointment and should have an adequate level of pre-appointment scrutiny.

I welcome the letter from the noble Lord, Lord Livermore, sent yesterday, pointing out the established process for the Cabinet Office and that this could be added to the pre-appointment scrutiny list. To our minds, that is a very sensible answer and a way forward. It is a way of resolving this issue. My only real question in relation to this is that the Minister says this will be done in “due course”. Can he give us a clearer idea of what he means by that? What is the timeframe?

Further to that, in relation to the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Hain, calling for commissioners from individual countries to be appointed to the Crown Estate, I ask the Minister: will those appointments also be subject to this type of pre-appointment scrutiny?

I turn now to Amendment 14, also in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Vere. It seeks to require the approval of His Majesty’s Treasury for the disposal of assets over £10 million, and the commissioners to inform the Treasury if assets over a value of £10 million are disposed of in a single year, then requiring the Treasury to approve of the disposal of those assets and to report that to Parliament within 28 days.

Again, the noble Lord, Lord Livermore, responded to this in his letter to all Peers yesterday, and we welcome that response. The Minister pointed out that this was a complicated matter, and that he would bring forward an amendment to address this concern. His engagement with that is welcome. This is an important issue—assets should not be disposed of by the Crown Estate without ministerial approval—but I seek further clarification from the Minister. When he says that this will be brought forward, will it be before Third Reading in this House? If it is not possible to bring that clarification forward before Third Reading, can the Minister give an undertaking that it will happen before Report in the other place?

On this amendment, our preference is that a compromise way forward is agreed. In fact, both amendments are matters that should be resolved without resorting to testing the opinion of the House.