I thank the Member for those comments and, again, for the very constructive way in which the party has sought to engage with the Bill at this early stage. With regard to the register of e-cigarettes, I’m really pleased to say that e-cigarettes will be included in the register of retailers. This is the only part of the Bill where you will find e-cigarettes, because you’ll be familiar with the fact that the First Minister made a commitment not to include the banning of the use of e-cigarettes in public spaces within this Bill. However, we are including them in the proposed register because, in the White Paper, a number of correspondents, particularly from the local government sector, said it would be appropriate for registration requirements to be extended to the retailers of nicotine products, including electronic cigarettes. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute conducted a rapid review of the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015, which came into force in October of last year. So, this is a new piece of research, which found that a total of 634 test purchases of e-cigarette products were made by young volunteers under the age of 18, and the results showed that compliance with the new regulations prohibiting nicotine inhaling products being sold to people under the age of 18 is still very low, with 39 per cent of young people being able to purchase them. So, I think it is, as you say, right that e-cigarettes should be included on the proposed register. The fact that they’ll be on there will help enforcement authorities with their enforcement duties as well.

I do share the concerns that the previous Minister had in terms of the impact of e-cigarettes on young people and the normalisation of smoking, and the normalisation of smoking whether it is through traditional cigarettes or e-cigarettes, because recent research has shown us that primary school-age children in Wales are more likely to have used e-cigarettes than tobacco. Six per cent of 10 to 11-year-olds and 12 per cent of 11 to 16-year-olds have used an e-cigarette at least once. So, it is an issue. I think it’s fair to say that the jury is probably still out in terms of the health benefits or costs in terms of e-cigarettes. I feel like the weight is moving against e-cigarettes in terms of the advice that the World Health Organization has given just this week. However, just to be clear, e-cigarettes beyond the register won’t be included in this Bill.

You moved on then to talk about special procedures. The Bill seeks to create a compulsory national licensing system for practitioners of special procedures, so defined in the Bill as acupuncture, body piercing, electrolysis and tattooing. This system will mean that to perform any of those procedures an individual must be licensed, and also that premises or the vehicle from which they operate must be approved. So, the aim here is to drive up standards in relation to the performance of special procedures and reduce the associated health risks, such as infection and transmission of blood-borne viruses as well. I know this is an issue that had a lot of interest in terms of scrutiny in the previous Assembly.

Our health impact assessments are going to offer a systematic means of taking health into account as part of decision-making and planning processes. So, this is really bringing life to our aspiration of health in all policies. The Bill includes provisions that will require Welsh Ministers to make regulations about the circumstances in which public bodies in Wales must carry out health impact assessments. So, the aim is that those assessments should be limited to policies, plans and programmes that have outcomes of national or major significance, or that will have a significant effect at the local level as well. The precise circumstances where they’ll be required will be set out in regulations following a process of consultation.

Just briefly there you referred to pharmacy and the pharmaceutical needs assessment and the importance of supporting rural pharmacies. I think that this is part of taking the strategic approach and making sure that people who live in rural communities have access to community pharmacies. I feel, as I’m sure many others do, they are underused resources at the moment. Pharmacists go through a great deal of training. They have a huge amount of expertise, and I feel that in the spirit of prudent healthcare they are able to operate at a higher level to offer more services than many do at the moment. So, the pharmaceutical needs assessment, and then the decisions that follow that, will hopefully make access to pharmacies and pharmacist advice more reliable in rural communities.

Finally, with regard to access to toilets, local authorities will be required to publish that local strategy to which you refer. But then, they will also have to provide details as to how they will propose to meet the population needs assessment. This isn’t just about toilets. This includes changing facilities for babies and changing places facilities for disabled people as well.