The next item on our agenda is the debate on Stage 4 of the Public Health (Wales) Bill. I call on the Minister for Social Services and Public Health to move the motion—Rebecca Evans.

Motion NDM6312 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales in accordance with Standing Order 26.47:

Approves the Public Health (Wales) Bill.

Motion moved.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I formally move the motion. I am delighted to introduce the fourth and final stage of the Public Health (Wales) Bill before the Assembly today.

This Bill has had a long journey to reach this point, through various stages of consultation and further refinement. Today marks the culmination of that journey. I’d like to begin by thanking the Chairs and members of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, and the Finance Committee, for their diligent scrutiny of the Bill. Similarly, I’d like to thank the wide range of stakeholders who’ve engaged positively throughout the process across each of the areas that the Bill covers. The Bill before the Assembly today continues Wales’s strong tradition of using legislation as an important part of our efforts to improve and protect health, alongside our tailored public health services, programmes, policies and campaigns. It will make a real and positive difference to our communities in a number of ways.

We’ve worked over many years to protect the population from the harms of smoking, particularly our children and young people. The Bill will break important new ground by extending the smoke-free requirements, for the very first time, to certain open spaces. This, together with the Bill’s other provisions on tobacco and nicotine products, will further embed the significant progress we’ve made in this area. People who choose to have special procedures, including body piercing and tattooing, will be better protected against the potential risks of infection, through the new licensing system. Communities across Wales will benefit from the changes to the way pharmaceutical services and access to toilets for use by the public are planned, and from the health impact assessments that will be carried out by public bodies.

Members will be aware that this Bill has already benefitted from full scrutiny in the fourth Assembly and, as a result, comprised a comprehensive suite of measures for further improving and protecting health and well-being in Wales. Nevertheless, the work of this Assembly has led to a number of material changes that have significantly strengthened the Bill. As a direct result of this work, children up to the age of 18 will now be protected from the harms that can be caused by intimate piercing. The smoke-free requirements in open spaces will be extended to cover outdoor childcare settings, further protecting children from the harm of smoking and preventing it from being seen as a normal, everyday activity. And, importantly, the Bill now gives a clear legislative focus to Government action to address the priority public health issue of obesity through the national strategy that will now be prepared.

I’m grateful to Members for the collaborative way in which they’ve engaged with the issues and worked with the Government to improve the Bill in these important ways. Of course, while today marks the end of the Bill’s journey through the Assembly, if passed, it will also signal the start of a critical new phase. I look forward to implementing the various elements of the Bill to realise the many benefits it seeks to achieve for people in Wales, and to the ongoing engagement of the Assembly in that work.

Before I close, I would like to put on record my very sincere thanks to all of the officials who’ve supported the work on the Bill so carefully and so diligently as it’s made its way through the Assembly. Presiding Officer, I commend the Bill to the Assembly.

I rise on behalf of the Welsh Conservatives group, in the absence of my colleague Angela Burns, simply to say that we’re very pleased to be able to support the Public Health (Wales) Bill this afternoon, as it makes its final passage through the National Assembly. It’s in much better shape than the previous incarnation of the Bill, which, of course, sought to introduce unnecessary restrictions on e-cigarettes, and I was very pleased that the Welsh Government saw sense on that matter and withdrew the proposed restrictions on those from the revised Bill that it presented before the Assembly last year.

We’re very pleased to see the additional restrictions on smoking of tobacco. As you know, we’ve engaged in some very useful discussions on possible further extensions to those areas where smoking will be prohibited in the future, particularly around bus shelters and in other settings where young children can often find themselves. We’re very pleased also to see the progress that is being made in terms of planning public conveniences in local areas, and I very much hope that we will see some significant improvements in ensuring that there aren’t the sort of closures that we’ve seen of public conveniences as a result of the requirement to produce local strategies.

And, of course, there was the very important amendment that was passed at Stage 3, with the support of all parties last week, in terms of the need for a national obesity strategy. I think it was a very strong and powerful argument that persuaded everybody in this Chamber to recognise the importance of obesity to public health and the need for a national programme of action to address that if we’re going to achieve better health outcomes in the future. So, we were very pleased indeed to support that amendment.

On pharmacy services, we know that there can very often be long and protracted discussions that take place in local communities where there are proposed changes, at the moment, to local pharmacy services, even simple things like relocations. So, I think that the new regulations and the new provisions in this Bill will help to improve just that. So, I want to say, on the whole, we absolutely support the principles of this Bill. We look forward to holding you to account as a Government for implementing the Bill once it becomes law and after it has received Royal Assent, and we will continue to work with you to improve the public health of the people of Wales.

We will be supporting this Bill today. Don’t get me wrong: I am not suggesting that all Bills should go through a similar journey to that of the Public Health (Wales) Bill through the Assembly, but I do think that the fact that the Bill, to all intents and purposes, went through this Assembly twice—it does show the work done by all parties, including Government and the opposition parties, and this is now a strong Bill before us for Stage 4 consideration today.

I am particularly pleased of the Plaid Cymru amendment that was unanimously supported last week, which will make it a requirement of Welsh Government to draw up a national obesity strategy—the biggest public health problem facing us as a nation, I’m sure. I’m grateful for the Minister’s willingness to collaborate on this issue. The challenge now, of course, is to draw up a strategy that can be truly transformative in terms of the health of our nation.

This isn’t a perfect Bill. We on these benches were very eager to strengthen the Bill in relation to the air that we breathe. We didn’t receive support for those amendments. Having said that, the British Lung Foundation is pleased that the pressure that we put on in this area has led to some movement from Government. But I do have to say that we again heard from the First Minister today that his Government is willing to await the Westminster Government’s strategy in terms of tackling air pollution before drawing up a plan for Wales. He wasn’t even willing to respond to the request from Simon Thomas to set specific targets. However, Plaid Cymru, of course, will continue to press for a comprehensive strategy in order to improve air quality and reduce the dangers of pollution, and I look forward to continuing the discussions with the Government in this area.

But, today, we will support this Bill, which in its entirety is a Bill that we believe can be an important tool in safeguarding the public, safeguarding public health, and encouraging a healthier Wales for future years.

I call on the Minister for Social Services and Public Health to reply to the debate.

I’d like to thank both spokespeople for their comments today and for their support for the Bill, and look forward to implementation of the Bill now, because I do think it has real potential in terms of improving the public health of the people of Wales, and I look forward to collaborating with and engaging with Members across the Assembly in terms of the implementation phase, which we’ll move to next. Thank you.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? The motion is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.