It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today, Sir Gary.

Clause 28 refers to the consequential amendments to do with part 1. The clause states which schedule contains which consequential amendments applicable to England and Wales. Consequential amendments revise existing legislation to ensure the law works effectively following the introduction of the Bill. This is a standard, supplementary clause that ensures the measures in part 1 of the Bill for England and Wales function as intended.

Consequential amendments that come into force two months after the Bill is passed are included in schedule 2, which amends several pieces of legislation including the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991, the Health Act 2006, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008, the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017.

Consequential amendments that come into force six months after the Bill is passed are included in schedule 3, which amends the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 and the Children and Families Act 2014.

Consequential amendments that come into force on 1 January 2027 are included in schedule 4, which amends several pieces of legislation including the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, the Protection of Children (Tobacco) Act 1986, Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991, the Police Reform Act 2002, the Courts Act 2003, the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008, the Health Act 2009, the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010, the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and the Children and Families Act 2014.

Schedules 2, 3 and 4 help the Bill to function effectively within the existing legislative framework and ensure that measures in the existing legislation work as intended following the Bill’s introduction.

Clause 29 provides the Secretary of State with a power to make regulations that are consequential on part 1 of the Bill. Those regulations may amend, repeal or revoke any legislation passed before the Bill or later in the same Session of Parliament as the Bill or an Act or Measure of Senedd Cymru passed before this Bill. Regulations may amend primary legislation as well as secondary legislation.

During the development of the Bill, every effort has been made to identify and make provision for any required amendments to primary legislation. However, as the Bill brings together legislation made over the last century there is a small likelihood that further consequential amendments may be required to enable the Bill to function effectively. It is therefore prudent that the Government should have the power to make such changes via secondary legislation. Any regulations amending primary legislation will be subject to the affirmative procedure in line with guidance from the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee.

I now move on to transitional and transitory provisions to do with part 1, which are relevant to England and Wales. Clause 30 provides that the programme of enforcement under clauses 20 and 21 should apply to existing tobacco and vape restrictions in the period before the new tobacco and vape measures come into force. That ensures that the programme of enforcement in the Bill continues to apply to offences despite different provisions coming into effect at different dates. In practice, that means that in the six months following Royal Assent, the programme of enforcement applies to the current restrictions on the sale of nicotine products to under-18s.

In the period following Royal Assent, before 1 January 2027, the programme of enforcement applies to the current age of sale restrictions for tobacco, breaches of the sale of unpackaged cigarettes and breaches of the requirements for age of sale notices. Trading standards is currently obliged to consider its programme of enforcement each year, and this clause replaces that obligation. The clause is important to the functioning of the Bill, as it will ensure that effective enforcement regimes are in place for the time between Royal Assent and the commencement of provisions in the Bill.

Clause 31 provides that the fixed penalty notice regime in the Bill should apply to breaches of existing tobacco and vape age of sale restrictions in the period before the new tobacco and vape age of sale restrictions come into force. That will ensure that trading standards has additional tools available to take swift and proportionate enforcement action on under-age sales without delay. Some enforcement provisions in the Bill come into force before the offences that they relate to, and clause 32 therefore provides general transitional provisions so that enforcement is aligned with the coming into force dates of different measures.

Finally, I come to the commencement of the Bill. Clause 79 provides the commencement dates for different clauses and parts of the Bill across the United Kingdom. The clause helps the measures in the Bill to function effectively. I commend clause 28, schedules 2, 3 and 4 and clauses 29, 30, 31, 32 and 79 to the Committee.