I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his new appointment. We must recognise how powerful and influential the tobacco lobby is. At every stage it challenges causation, manufactures uncertainty and hides behind third-party organisations—Save Our Shop is funded by the Tobacco Manufacturers Association. As the very last resort, it will...

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his new appointment. We must recognise how powerful and influential the tobacco lobby is. At every stage it challenges causation, manufactures uncertainty and hides behind third-party organisations—Save Our Shop is funded by the Tobacco Manufacturers Association. As the very last resort, it will...

The hon. Lady is right to suggest that many factors influence smoking prevalence. Trying to control for those factors, including for levels of taxation, and to identify and isolate what is happening at point of sale is difficult. The Tobacco Retailers Alliance certainly found doing that inconvenient and instead chose...

The hon. Lady is right to suggest that many factors influence smoking prevalence. Trying to control for those factors, including for levels of taxation, and to identify and isolate what is happening at point of sale is difficult. The Tobacco Retailers Alliance certainly found doing that inconvenient and instead chose...

Underpinning this debate is the principle that smoking is an addiction of childhood; it is not an adult choice. Today, 1,000 under-16s will have started to smoke for the first time by trying a cigarette, and 80 per cent. of smokers start to smoke before they are 19. The tobacco...

Underpinning this debate is the principle that smoking is an addiction of childhood; it is not an adult choice. Today, 1,000 under-16s will have started to smoke for the first time by trying a cigarette, and 80 per cent. of smokers start to smoke before they are 19. The tobacco...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way, particularly as I have only just returned to the Chamber. She cites a lack of evidence in relation to point-of-sale displays and prevalent traits of smoking in young people, but studies of groups of as many as 25,000 people have...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way, particularly as I have only just returned to the Chamber. She cites a lack of evidence in relation to point-of-sale displays and prevalent traits of smoking in young people, but studies of groups of as many as 25,000 people have...

I spent 30-odd years, from the age of 19, working in the IT industry in the public sector before coming to this place in 1997. One of the problems in the public sector is that the outsourcing mania that there has been, particularly in the civil service, over a very...

I spent 30-odd years, from the age of 19, working in the IT industry in the public sector before coming to this place in 1997. One of the problems in the public sector is that the outsourcing mania that there has been, particularly in the civil service, over a very...

I hope later formally to press amendment 1 and to have the opportunity to vote on it. It has been signed by 14 other hon. Members of all parties. We have heard from the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) about new clause 11, and it is gratifying that Liberal...

I hope later formally to press amendment 1 and to have the opportunity to vote on it. It has been signed by 14 other hon. Members of all parties. We have heard from the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) about new clause 11, and it is gratifying that Liberal...

I shall deal with that at the end of my remarks. The religious free speech clause deliberately narrows the definition of the offence whereas the homophobic free speech provision does not. It simply clarifies what is already outside the scope of the offence. It is not a defence but a...

I shall deal with that at the end of my remarks. The religious free speech clause deliberately narrows the definition of the offence whereas the homophobic free speech provision does not. It simply clarifies what is already outside the scope of the offence. It is not a defence but a...

I am sure that that is right, and I strongly endorse what the hon. Gentleman says. Someone else who has spoken out is the actor Rowan Atkinson, who just a few days ago addressed a Committee Room packed with Members of the House of Lords about the chilling effect of...

I am sure that that is right, and I strongly endorse what the hon. Gentleman says. Someone else who has spoken out is the actor Rowan Atkinson, who just a few days ago addressed a Committee Room packed with Members of the House of Lords about the chilling effect of...

There is some merit in that, but it is not a particularly strong point. New clause 11 reminds the Attorney-General about human rights law, but human rights law applies to the police, prosecutors and the Attorney-General anyway and, to judge from the list of cases that I gave earlier, precious...

There is some merit in that, but it is not a particularly strong point. New clause 11 reminds the Attorney-General about human rights law, but human rights law applies to the police, prosecutors and the Attorney-General anyway and, to judge from the list of cases that I gave earlier, precious...

Does my hon. Friend agree—I assume she does, as she will have signed off the information given by the Government at the time of this debate—that if the removal of the free speech clause will not affect the threshold of the offence, logically its retention cannot affect the threshold of...

Does my hon. Friend agree—I assume she does, as she will have signed off the information given by the Government at the time of this debate—that if the removal of the free speech clause will not affect the threshold of the offence, logically its retention cannot affect the threshold of...

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this important debate. Is she not surprised that during that four-year period, the ombudsman, who is an inestimable woman, was unable to indicate how any compensation scheme might work or give any indication about the overall cost and where it might fall, and...

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this important debate. Is she not surprised that during that four-year period, the ombudsman, who is an inestimable woman, was unable to indicate how any compensation scheme might work or give any indication about the overall cost and where it might fall, and...

I want to speak about the establishment of citizens councils for the regulation of health care professionals. Anyone who reads the Bill will recognise immediately the difficulty experienced routinely by members of the public who seek to decode important issues requiring public scrutiny and debate, and the parts relating to...

I want to speak about the establishment of citizens councils for the regulation of health care professionals. Anyone who reads the Bill will recognise immediately the difficulty experienced routinely by members of the public who seek to decode important issues requiring public scrutiny and debate, and the parts relating to...

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and I shall seek to catch your eye later in the debate. Just moments ago, I tabled early-day motion 386, which calls for citizens councils—as recommended in the NHS plan 2000—to be involved with the regulation...

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and I shall seek to catch your eye later in the debate. Just moments ago, I tabled early-day motion 386, which calls for citizens councils—as recommended in the NHS plan 2000—to be involved with the regulation...

I must declare an interest, in that I am in a minority in the Chamber because I am not a lawyer. Before the Minister goes on to discuss the OLC’s objectives, will she pay at least some tribute to the midlands-based Legal Complaints Service? It has been noticeably independent of...

I must declare an interest, in that I am in a minority in the Chamber because I am not a lawyer. Before the Minister goes on to discuss the OLC’s objectives, will she pay at least some tribute to the midlands-based Legal Complaints Service? It has been noticeably independent of...

Is the expansion in the number of city academies valued more highly on the Conservative Benches than the retention of town grammar schools?

Is the expansion in the number of city academies valued more highly on the Conservative Benches than the retention of town grammar schools?

The hon. Gentleman is developing an interesting theory. Does he not believe that it contains some aspects of the work force planning that we experienced in the NHS? Is there not a cautionary tale to extract from what has happened with the Medical Training Application Service—MTAS?

The hon. Gentleman is developing an interesting theory. Does he not believe that it contains some aspects of the work force planning that we experienced in the NHS? Is there not a cautionary tale to extract from what has happened with the Medical Training Application Service—MTAS?

Does my hon. Friend welcome, as I do, the qualified exemption that trade unions have? Would he state how important it is that the assertions that have been made about malpractice in certain county or regional parts of trade unions must not be read over to the whole group of...

Does my hon. Friend welcome, as I do, the qualified exemption that trade unions have? Would he state how important it is that the assertions that have been made about malpractice in certain county or regional parts of trade unions must not be read over to the whole group of...

Does my hon. Friend see a parallel, in the links and good relations that apparently exist between the UDM and parts of Government—perhaps the civil service—between what we are discussing and the UDM’s negotiating poorer deals for the equal pay claims? When the NUM negotiated better deals, those of the...

Does my hon. Friend see a parallel, in the links and good relations that apparently exist between the UDM and parts of Government—perhaps the civil service—between what we are discussing and the UDM’s negotiating poorer deals for the equal pay claims? When the NUM negotiated better deals, those of the...

What my hon. Friend describes so vividly and helpfully is possibly legal but morally reprehensible and should be tackled. However, does he acknowledge that thousands of claims in constituencies such as mine have been handled not through the Union of Democratic Mineworkers but a large local firm of solicitors—I spent...

What my hon. Friend describes so vividly and helpfully is possibly legal but morally reprehensible and should be tackled. However, does he acknowledge that thousands of claims in constituencies such as mine have been handled not through the Union of Democratic Mineworkers but a large local firm of solicitors—I spent...

I wish to speak to amendments Nos. 19 and 21, which were tabled in my name. Amendment No. 19 relates to the fixing of charges imposed on aircraft operators who breach noise and emission requirements. It seeks to ensure that the local authority in whose area the airport is situated is in...

I wish to speak to amendments Nos. 19 and 21, which were tabled in my name. Amendment No. 19 relates to the fixing of charges imposed on aircraft operators who breach noise and emission requirements. It seeks to ensure that the local authority in whose area the airport is situated is in...