Meeting of the Parliament 17 December 2015
As others have done, I congratulate Jim Hume on getting his Smoking Prohibition (Children in Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Bill to stage 3.
I lodged my proposal to introduce a bill to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces in the middle of 2003. Looking back over the past 12 years, it is rather astonishing to see the distance that we have travelled in the fight against the scourge of tobacco and its impacts on our society. I think that it was Jenny Marra who said that when it was first proposed that we introduce legislation it was considered a ridiculous and crazy idea; many people ridiculed the prospect of a ban on smoking in enclosed public places in Scotland and several said to me that they would not see it in their lifetimes. However, only a couple of years later, the ban was in place and was respected.
I have no doubt that the Smoking Prohibition (Children in Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Bill puts another brick into the road that we are building towards a smoke-free Scotland. It is an important public health bill that will undoubtedly improve the health of children in Scotland. It is a clear and focused bill that is aimed at tackling one problem: the exposure of children to tobacco smoke in cars.
The Scottish schools adolescent lifestyle and substance abuse survey for 2013 reported that 22 per cent of Scottish children aged 13 to 15 were sometimes or often exposed to tobacco smoke in the car. That is nearly a quarter of our adolescents who are exposed to pollution levels that are often higher than those in Beijing or Delhi. Members should not forget that, last weekend, the smog in Beijing was so bad that children and old people were told to stay at home and not venture outside. However, some people seem to think that it is all right to expose their and other people’s children to that level of pollution.
Smoking among 13 to 15-year-olds has now reached the lowest levels since we started doing modern surveys of smoking among that demographic group. Young people are choosing to turn away from the dangers of tobacco, and it is only right that we should support them by passing legislation that protects them from other people’s unhealthy choices when they are too young to be able to make the choice for themselves.
Children are more in need of protection than other groups in society for two reasons: one is that they are dependent upon adults and have little or no autonomy, and the other is that children are much more vulnerable to second-hand smoke than adults because of their smaller lung capacity and faster breathing rate. We tend to think only of asthma and other respiratory diseases when we consider second-hand smoke, but the Royal College of Physicians produced a report in 2010 entitled “Passive Smoking and Children: A report of the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians” in which it estimated that one sudden infant death in five could be attributed to passive smoking. That is a terrifying and shocking statement. For that reason alone, even if for no other, we should pass the bill.
I am pleased to note that the bill has been amended so that responsibility for enforcement will be shared between Police Scotland and local authorities. That was a smart move.