Member

Amendment 23, tabled by my noble friend Lord Hanworth, would require, within 12 months of Royal Assent, the publication of a review of age-verification methods for individuals purchasing tobacco, vapes and nicotine products. The amendment says that the review must consider the effectiveness of age-verification methods, including the suggestion made by my noble friend to utilise electronic age-verification technology in credit and debit cards. I thank my noble friend for the thought that he has given this, but we believe that this amendment is not necessary. We will provide clarity to retailers on using physical ID and digital methods of age verification through regulations, which will set out steps that may be taken to verify a customer’s age as a defence to the age of sale offence. We will carefully consider the types of ID acceptable in the context of satisfying the defence and keep these under review.