Tobacco Packaging Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Beamish
Main Page: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Beamish's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(11 years, 6 months ago)
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Mr Kevan Jones (North Durham) (Lab)
It is a first for this Government to determine policy by waiting to see what the Australians do. What time period will there be for the consultation? Has the Minister’s position on this issue, and that of her colleague the Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter), changed?
Anna Soubry
I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with waiting to see what happens with the introduction of the legislation in Australia. The hon. Gentleman knows that the aim of standardised packaging is to dissuade young people from taking it up.
Anna Soubry
I am answering the hon. Gentleman’s first question first, after which I will move on to the next one. That is the aim of the introduction of standardised packaging. If a good experiment is up and running that will produce evidence, what could be a more sensible thing for Government to do? As to the length of time, I cannot answer that question, because we have to wait and see the evidence as it emerges. I thought that we might see some sort of change quite quickly in Australia, but we have not seen it yet; I am surprised about that. I am afraid it is a case of “How long is a piece of string?” We have to wait and see how the evidence emerges.