§ 67. Mr. Beswickasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education if he is satisfied with the action being taken to discourage smoking by school children; on what evidence he states in "Health Education", pamphlet No. 31, that tobacco is not so difficult to obtain by schoolchildren; and what special steps he proposes to take to reduce the smoking of tobacco by school children in view of the increasing evidence of its bad effect upon health.
128W
§ Sir E. BoyleMy noble Friend considers that his Department's handbook on Health Education gives sound advice on this matter, and will decide in due course whether any further advice should be given in the light of the review by the Medical Research Council to which my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health referred in his Answer on Monday, 27th May, to the hon. Member for Brixton (Mr. Lipton). He believes that this is the duty which falls to his Department, and that it must be left to teachers and above all to parents to decide how they deal with the children for whom they are responsible. In his view there is sufficient evidence in common experience for the statement in the handbook that cigarettes are not so difficult for children to obtain as are alcoholic drinks.