Contributions
458 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Just on that point, the notification scheme is essentially a paper-based process, so anyone sitting in Germany, say, or anywhere in the world, if they want to supply the United…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q In terms of your notification process as a regulator, of course there is enforcement, with trading standards removing products, but do you have the powers, and have you used…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q It seems to me that there needs to be some sort of triangulation between trading standards’ enforcing and removing illicit products from the market and your register. Surely,…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q If a product is not compliant—if it is illicit, illegal and so on—does it stay on your register? What happens? Dr Squire: Nothing happens on the register, but trading standards…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Does that mean that you communicate with every trading standards department in the country and get them to go out and remove the product? Is that how it is done? Dr Squire: That…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q How many products that have gone through the notification process have been deemed illicit and have therefore been removed by trading standards? Dr Squire: I think I have some…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q It is the process that we are trying to understand. You have a register and a notification process— Dr Squire: Yes.01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Do you think those exceptions are strong enough? Dr Squire: What the exceptions are is not defined yet. The ability to make exceptions is in the Bill, but what the exceptions…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)But because we are not testing a product before it comes to the market, we are allowing a lot of illicit substances to come in and flood the market. Do you think that companies…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Yes. Dr Squire: No, I do not believe we have.01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Have you ever asked a Secretary of State to use powers to recall or remove products from the register? Dr Squire: Have we?01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Where you were given the role of being the register in the notification process, it says that the powers can sit with the Secretary of State, and I am just wondering, given that…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Thank you.01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q In 2023, your company identified shops selling vapes with illegal capacities and nicotine strengths. What have you found through some of your work? Mr Lawson: We looked at…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Were those vapes being marketed to children or to adults, or was it a mixture? Mr Lawson: I think it is quite easy to characterise the products. They are generally quite large…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q You mentioned that your company is doing testing of products. One of the things that we heard just before your evidence was that what comes into the UK market obviously is not…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q How are those products coming into the market? Mr Lawson: They are being illegally imported. The majority of products are not produced in the UK; I would imagine that most…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Are they imported illegally in bulk? Mr Lawson: I assume so. I am not sure whether Kate Pike from trading standards has given evidence, but trading standards has been involved…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Q We heard yesterday that with tobacco, you have track and trace. Do you foresee that if we had a track and trace system for vapes, it should largely address some of this? Mr…01 May 2024HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Second sitting)Q 36 Effective enforcement will be key to the success of part 1 of the Bill, yet some local authorities tell me that they do not have even a single full-time trading standards…30 Apr 2024