Speeches by Johnson.

“Q Can I ask about staff training? Once the legislation goes through, which we expect it to do, retailers up and down the country will need to ensure that their staff are properly trained to follow the law. One of the challenges they will have—not initially, but as it goes forward—is identifying how old individuals are.…”

“Q Welcome to the Committee, and thank you for coming. I want to ask you about the approval process that vapes go through. People say, “This has MHRA approval,” or “This has an MHRA tick,” and they may therefore think it is safe because you have “medicines” in your title. Could you briefly lay out your processes for reg…”

“Q Okay, but you do not have specific evidence that compares flavours. Say the popular flavours are cherry and raspberry—you do not have anything that says which is safer. Professor Sanjay Agrawal: No.”

“Q I have a few questions about understanding the thought process behind some of the Government’s decisions. One of the suggestions made by a Labour Back Bencher in the previous Bill Committee —I think we were both on it—was that of a nicotine-free generation. Today, in particular from the CMO, we heard about how the in…”

“The Secretary of State needs to be careful with the words he uses, as you said, Mr Speaker, because his words did cause anxiety among people. It was not a disingenuous question; it was a genuine question to make sure that people are reassured. It will not have escaped the Secretary of State’s notice that it is cold out…”

“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. [Interruption.] I am sorry—that is the last time I will get called. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Yesterday, in relation to the elective backlog, the Secretary of State said: “Where we can treat working people faster, we will, and we make no apology for doing so.”—[Official Report, 6 January 2025…”

“Q The Welsh Government are apparently struggling with compliance in hospital areas. What have you learned from your Welsh counterparts on how you can ensure better enforcement and compliance in England? Andrew Gwynne: That is a really important question. It is why, at every opportunity today, I have been asking those w…”

“Q My final question is about the awareness of public spaces legislation. You are creating the powers to restrict people’s ability to smoke and vape outside in places that you have chosen reasonably sensibly, but you could extend them. If you do extend them, how will you ensure that people know so that they are not inad…”

“Q What was your thought process on shisha, bongs and other paraphernalia, which some people feel are not adequately covered by the Bill? Andrew Gwynne: Oh, you will get me on my hobby horse, having mentioned bongs. All tobacco products will be covered by the measures in this Bill. Shisha is covered. Shisha is a harmful…”

“Q I am not sure that I completely understand your argument, because the rise in age of being able to smoke will also inevitably raise the age of people who are wishing to quit. Of course, if a Government want to do it later, you could end up in a very tricky situation where you are asking people to enforce an age of sa…”

“Q That leaves the Government with a difficult choice, does it not? At the moment, there are a whole plethora of flavours. You can make the descriptions boring very easily but, if you are going to choose a small range of flavours, the intent will presumably be to choose the ones containing those chemicals that are thoug…”

“Q I want to ask you about flavours, given your experience of people who are trying to quit. There has been some debate about restricting flavours, and how flavours entice children but, perhaps, help adults. When I first met somebody from the industry, I asked them about flavours and they told me that when somebody uses…”

“Q Professor Agrawal, do you have anything to contribute about the effects of vaping on older people? Professor Sanjay Agrawal: The majority of adults who vape have smoked, so they are using vapes to quit smoking. The amount of research that looks at populations who have never smoked, who have only vaped, is actually qu…”

“Q We have heard a bit today about the marketing of vapes and the flexibility of industry to maintain its market of nicotine-addicted people. Do you think that the Bill is sufficiently flexible? For example, we have seen nicotine pouches becoming more popular with children, and we have started to see them advertised in …”

“Q Thank you and welcome. I reiterate that I am a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. My first question is about the medical harms of vaping. We know that these products are relatively new and that it took quite a long time to establish how harmful smoking was. What do we know about harms that v…”

“Q You have explained that they are very different roles: in one, there is a level of safety that is checked; in the other, the manufacturers just notify that they are following the basic level of rules. When a customer buys a product, do you think that the suggestion that it is MHRA-approved leads the customer to belie…”

“Q Will this Bill help with that? Matthew Shanks: Yes—very much so.”

“Q I have one final quick question on detectors. Some schools have tried detector devices to pick up vape vapour that is not picked up by smoke detectors. What are your thoughts on those? Are they effective and have they been useful to schools? Matthew Shanks: Children are very clever, and they will find a way round. On…”

“Q I agree with you on that. To what extent will the Bill help to resolve, or at least alleviate, the problem of children vaping? Matthew Shanks: At the moment, there is a vacuum around an understanding of what vaping is and what it can and cannot do. I cannot talk to the health aspects, because I am not a health expert…”

“Q Thank you—that is very helpful. We have heard another thing in the past—in fact, a teacher at one of my children’s schools, produced what looked like a small, pink highlighter pen. To all intents and purposes, it was a pink highlighter pen, but it was actually a vape. It is not clear to me why that would be marketed …”