§ Mr. CummingsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what mandate he has given to the European Commission to negotiate on behalf of Her Majesty's Government in meetings on the World Health Organisation's Convention for Tobacco Control; [114944]
(2) what estimates he has made of the impact on (a) employment and (b) exports of the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, indicating the constituencies affected in each case; [114940]
(3) what recent discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials have had with (i) EU partners, (ii) other nations, (iii) the World Health Organisation and (iv) the European Commission regarding the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention for Tobacco Control; [114943]
(4) if he will make a statement on the position of Her Majesty's Government in relation to the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention for Tobacco Control. [114941]
§ Yvette CooperThe White Paper "Smoking Kills" makes clear our strong support for the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The first and current phase in the 343W development of the convention is to consult the 191 World Health Member States for their views on the Convention and its protocols. The second phase will cover negotiations on the content of the Convention.
The United Kingdom has been, and will continue to be, an active participant in the European Union and WHO working groups, which are the main bodies for taking forward work on the Convention, and in bilateral discussions with the Commission, WHO and other member states. The Commission's mandate for participation on issues where it has a legal competence, was developed by the EU's Health Working Group and reported to the EU Health Ministers at the Health Council in November 1999. The Commission's mandate will be kept under review as the work develops.
It is too early to say what the likely impact of the Convention on employment and exports will be, as this depends on the content of the Convention, which is yet to be negotiated. However, the World Bank's recent study on tobacco control "Curbing the Epidemic" concludes that adopting effective tobacco control policies would result in no net job losses in most countries, and even a net gain in some.