Draft Tobacco and Related Products (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023

Neil O'Brien Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2023 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Neil O’Brien)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Tobacco and Related Products (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Harris. The purpose of this statutory instrument is to implement the EU Commission delegated directive (EU) 2022/2100 of 29 June 2022, which amends directive 2014/40/EU —the tobacco products directive—to withdraw certain exemptions in respect of heated tobacco products placed on the Northern Ireland market. The regulations amend the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 in relation to Northern Ireland. Subject to their approval by Parliament, they are due to come into force on 23 October this year.

The regulations apply to Northern Ireland only and are made for the purposes of dealing with matters arising out of, or related to, the Windsor framework. Regulation 3(3) amends TRPR—the 2016 regulations—to prohibit the production or supply of Northern Ireland heated tobacco products that contain a characterising flavour. Unlike cigarettes, heated tobacco can currently contain characterising flavours such as menthol, vanilla and so on. Under the changes the SI implements, that will no longer be the case for heated tobacco products sold in Northern Ireland from 23 October 2023.

We do not need to make changes in the light of the Commission delegated directive that requires heated tobacco products to contain health warnings and information messages if they combust. If heated tobacco products that involved a combustion process were placed on the UK market, they would be regulated as tobacco products for smoking and would be subject to existing regulations in TRPR that require such products to contain a combined health warning and information message. However, there are currently no heated tobacco products on the Great Britain or Northern Ireland markets that involve a combustion process and, as such, products are subject to the labelling requirements applicable to smokeless tobacco products.

A full assessment of the impact on Northern Ireland business has not been prepared for this instrument because the amounts involved on business fall below the threshold for producing one. The regulations will apply to producers, suppliers, retailers and wholesalers that produce or supply heated tobacco products for consumption in Northern Ireland. The Department of Health and Social Care communicated with the tobacco industry, NI retail representatives and enforcement agencies regarding the proposed changes in February and again when the draft SI was laid in June.

Heated tobacco products on the UK market are produced and manufactured by the tobacco industry outside the UK. The characterising flavour ban will limit the products the industry can produce and supply to the Northern Ireland market and may impact on its profits in what is a relatively small market for the industry in Northern Ireland. There is no significant impact on the public sector, and each district council in Northern Ireland will, when required, enforce the new requirements, which are not expected to be a significant burden on councils given the very low use of heated tobacco products in Northern Ireland.

I am content to introduce the regulations, which allow us to honour our current commitments under the Windsor framework and will have limited impact on Northern Ireland business. I commend the regulations to the Committee.

[The Chair]

Before I call the Opposition spokesperson, I should say that I have no problem if people wish to remove their jackets, given how warm the room is.

--- Later in debate ---

[Neil O'Brien]

We have driven down smoking rates in England to a record low—from about 40% in the 1970s to about 20% in 2010 and down to a record low of 13% today. We have done that partly by doubling excise duties and partly by introducing a minimum excise on the cheapest cigarettes.

We continue to move forward in our efforts to cut smoking. I recently set out plans to give all women who smoke during pregnancy new incentives to quit smoking, and plans to give 1 million smokers help to “swap to stop” with free vaping kits. The Government are taking determined action to drive down rates of smoking, and we will keep all measures about comparability between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK under review.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

The Minister has not responded to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for York Central.

[Neil O'Brien]

Which point?

[Debbie Abrahams]

The point about the inequalities that there will be between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and whether there has been an assessment of them. I gently remind the Minister that it was a Labour Government that introduced smoke-free zones and ensured that people were protected from second-hand smoking. The Government need to recognise that.

[Neil O'Brien]

We keep all those things under review. Flavourings in heated tobacco are a relatively niche issue, but of course we will look at the regulation of those things. The mainstay of our policy is raising tax on cigarettes, which has driven down smoking rates, and using vapes, but not heated tobacco, as a potential substitute to get people off smoking.

I commend the draft regulations to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.