Seòmar agus comataidhean

The evidence base is being built up now, but, yes, most definitely, young people who are smoking or vaping can access the support facilities. There is also a new study that has been funded, which Professor Bauld will tell you about.

I absolutely agree that we need to do a bit more about those novel products—if I may call them that—and that is exactly what the bill aims to do: it aims to bring products such as heated tobacco and snus under the legislation to ensure that we have better powers to reduce their availability to young and older people. As I understand it, a lot of evidence gathering is still going on in the area, because we need to ensure that we have robust evidence in that respect.

Since I provided evidence on 7 December, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill has continued its progress through the UK Parliament, with its second reading in the House of Lords on 23 April. I am delighted to say that there continues to be cross-party support for the bill and for creating a tobacco-free country for future generations.

We are here to discuss the supplementary legislative consent memorandum to the bill that was lodged in our Parliament on 28 March, which specifically relates to an amendment on age verification. The amendment, which relates to clause 60 of the bill, ensures that we have the ability to prescribe more age verification options in an ever more digital world. Currently, someone who is accused of selling products contrary to the age of sale restrictions in Scotland might have a defence if they check certain prescribed identity documents, and the clause seeks to amend the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 to ensure that Scottish ministers will have a power to prescribe a wider range of methods of age verification in regulations.

Once commenced, the current prescribed list of documents on the face of the 2010 act will be removed but can effectively be replaced by regulations. Ministers will have the flexibility to authorise digital forms of age verification in the future, should they be satisfied that it is appropriate to do so at the time. Scottish ministers will have the power to commence those changes through regulations, which will provide flexibility with regard to when any new regulations need to be brought forward. Consideration will be given to whether consultation is needed and, if so, to the nature of such consultation, depending on the content of future regulations.

In so far as new powers are being granted to Scottish ministers to make regulations, any such regulations will be subject to the negative procedure. The Scottish Parliament will, therefore, have the opportunity to closely scrutinise the content of those regulations to ensure that they meet the needs of Scottish policy. The amendment will ensure that Scottish ministers have the ability in future to accommodate developments in age verification, and it will enable the Scottish Parliament to appropriately scrutinise any such proposals and associated regulations in more detail at the relevant stage of the process.

I therefore recommend that the Scottish Parliament consent to the supplementary legislative consent memorandum.

If I remember correctly, you asked a similar question when I was before the committee in December. If I have understood you, the issue is whether people who are under age who buy tobacco products will then be charged.

We have extensive conversations with trading standards officers. We have been speaking to them throughout the drafting of the bill and its passage through the UK Parliament, in line with the work that we need to do on the LCMs.

In Scotland, we have a register for anyone who sells tobacco products, which will be expanded to include the new products as part of the bill. We have just invested in that, and it has far better outreach, which means that we can have direct conversations with retailers who are selling the products. It is important to underline that there is legislation to ensure that retailers do not sell to underage people. The purchaser needs to provide evidence of their age and the supplementary LCM will allow us to shift that from being simply paper documents to digitally accessible documents.

Yes, absolutely. Fiona Dill and I had a helpful visit to one of the secondary schools in Edinburgh to talk to parents—actually, fathers—who are concerned about their children accessing vapes. We have also had a campaign—I cannot remember the name of it off the top of my head.

Yes.

That shows the importance of working with Public Health Scotland so that we get the information through health surveys.

I agree, and I am often in places—on ferries, for example—where a specific announcement is made about that. Fiona, can I bring you in?

I recognise the work that Emma Harper has been doing on food safety. As I have outlined, I have regular meetings with the chief executive of Food Standards Scotland. It was set up to have the mechanisms to ensure that it remains the competent authority for food and feed in Scotland and that it has official controls. It is important to recognise that it does internal audits on its science and that external audits are carried out by independent scientists.

Emma Harper made a point about the ability to horizon scan and see what is new and what is coming on to the market, which will be a key aspect of the changes that are being proposed. Currently, just under a quarter of Food Standards Scotland’s time is spent on ensuring that we match the 10-year standards, whereas the proposed changes will mean that important resources can be freed up to ensure that we can look to the future to see what potential new additives could be coming on to the market in Scotland.

Georgie, do you want to add anything to that?