HL Deb 17 July 1986 vol 478 cc1011-3

3.8 p.m.

Lord Orr-Ewing

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many millions of cigarettes are currently being imported each month from Western Europe and whether their laboratories are adequately staffed to test this rising total for tar content and accurate labelling on the packets.

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, in the year ended December 1985 an average of 1,016 million cigarettes a month were imported into the UK from countries within the European Community. A small number of cigarettes were also imported from Western European countries which are not members of the EC. The Government are satisfied that the existing procedures enable all brands which achieve a significant level of sales to be tested for their tar yield.

Lord Orr-Ewing

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the imports have been rising very steeply in recent years: that the figure was one-half of 1 per cent. imported some years ago and that it is now nearer 10 per cent? Has the manning of the laboratories been sufficient to match that? I ask that because there are indications that large numbers of the cheaper type with the higher tar content are now coming in and are not being properly monitored by the Government laboratories.

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, we are currently testing brands representing 95 per cent. of cigarettes imported. There has been a sharp increase in the number of imported brands available in this country in recent years. It would not be practical or cost-effective to test every brand that comes on to the market, but the Government try to ensure that brands that have built up a considerable volume of permanent sales are tested. The manning is therefore considered currently adequate.

Lord Bruce of Donington

My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that she still has not answered the Question put by her noble friend, which was: are the laboratories adequately staffed? Is she aware that this is a quite serious matter and that it is essential that this should happen?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, it is indeed a serious matter, but I believe that at the end of my last reply I said that we considered the manning to be adequate.

Lord O'Neill of the Maine

My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware of the great importance of cigarette manufacture to Northern Ireland and the difficulty of the firms existing there in maintaining employment if they are subjected to what may be unfair competition?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, yes, indeed; but in fact all cigarettes produced for the United Kingdom market, whether manufactured in the United Kingdom or imported, are subject to the same tests.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, is there any way in which we can reduce this very considerable increase in the importation of these products which are damaging to the nation's health? Also, can the noble Baroness say whether imported cigarettes have on average a higher tar content than those manufactured in Britain?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, to answer the last question first, to my knowledge there is no evidence that the imported brands have on average a higher tar content. The Government are doing everything they can, on the same basis as with home-manufactured products, to carry out testing procedures to ensure that that continues to be so.

Lord Kennet

My Lords, is there no system of European Community tar content grading?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I am not aware that there is a European system. Certainly, so far as the United Kingdom is concerned, we deal with the matter through voluntary agreements, and under those agreements a substantial lowering of the average tar yield of cigarettes has been achieved.

Lord Orr-Ewing

My Lords, did I understand my noble friend rightly when she claimed that 95 per cent. of brands selling more than 10 million a year in this country are now being tested? Can she assure me that the tar content appears on those packs; and are the health warnings, as required by statute, also on those packs? Perhaps she can also tell us whether the overseas people are keeping in line, so that there is a steady reduction in tar content to meet the aim of 13 milligrams by December 1987. Is that also being monitored?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, we are monitoring everything. I can assure my noble friend that we are currently testing brands which represent 95 per cent. of cigarettes imported. That is not necessarily 95 per cent. of all brands, but, as I said previously, all cigarettes produced for the United Kingdom market are required to carry the tar group on the pack.