Kay Issues | Updated | December 2006

Smoking in public places

A TOTAL ban on smoking in enclosed public places will come into force in England on 1 July 2007, when the warm weather should (they hope) lessen its impact. The Government is currently finalising the regulations but it is certain that all pubs, clubs (private clubs and nightclubs), restaurants and cafes will be affected along with workplaces and company cars. (A private club run by smokers for smokers will also be illegal.) Exceptions include private homes, residential care homes, some hospitals, prisons and hotel bedrooms. Film and theatre stages will also be exempt.
 
Wales is introducing a total ban on smoking in public places on 2 April 2007 followed by Northern Ireland on 30 April 2007. A total smoking ban was introduced in Scotland in March 2006. In Scotland smoking is also banned on the stage.

Background

In 2004 the UK Government's Public Health White Paper outlined plans for a smoking ban across workplaces in England and Wales. Only private members clubs and pubs that do not serve food would be exempt.

In the summer of 2005 the Government conducted a three-month public consultation, which concluded on 5 September. Weeks of discussion at Cabinet level followed during which various proposals were discussed. The present Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt is thought to have favoured a full ban on smoking in all enclosed public spaces, although as a 'compromise' it is thought she proposed a ban that would have allowed sealed staff-free 'smoking carriages' in non-food pubs.

Those plans were abandoned after alleged rows with Cabinet colleagues - rows which ended with an agreement to return to the partial ban drawn up by former Health Secretary Dr John Reid in 2004 and published as part of Labour's 2005 election manifesto.

Although the Cabinet proposed prohibiting smoking only in pubs serving food in line with Labour's election manifesto, a free vote was offered after many Labour MPs threatened to rebel. On 14 February 2006 MPs in the House of Commons voted by a margin of 200 votes for a total ban on smoking in public places.

Bizarrely, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt voted for the blanket ban even though, during the debate, she had put forward the proposal that private clubs be exempted. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chancellor Gordon Brown and the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke all voted for a blanket ban. But Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and Defence (now Home) Secretary John Reid opposed it.

In June 2006, the House of Lords' Select Committee on Economic Affairs reported in their Government Policy on the Management of Risk that: "The case of passive smoking is an example in which policy demonstrates a disproportionate response to a relatively minor health problem, with insufficient regard to statistical evidence."

Despite this the bill was passed in the House of Lords in July 2006, and then received Royal Assent.

So here's the present state of play for smoking in public places in the UK, the rest of Europe and the US:

ENGLAND

Will smoking rooms be allowed in offices and other public buildings?
Smoking will not be allowed in any building if more than one person uses it as a place of work, even if the people who work there do so at different times or if members of the public might visit the building. Smoking rooms will not be allowed in offices even if they are properly ventilated and sealed off from the rest of the building. Hotel foyers will also be covered, although guests can continue to smoke in their rooms. Every employer will have to put up signs informing workers that smoking in the workplace is illegal or face a fine.

Where else can't you smoke?
Lighting up will be prohibited in airports, covered bus and railway stations, taxis and minicabs.

What premises are exempted?
The ban will not cover, prisons, hospices, care homes and mental health units where patients are held in secure conditions for more than six months, as they are places of residence. But the exemption will not apply to acute psychiatric units.

Are any pubs, restaurants or private clubs exempt?
No. Smoking is banned in any area that is enclosed or "substantially enclosed" defined as having a roof and more than 50% of the perimeter enclosed by walls. If anyone wanted to set up a private club run by smokers for smokers that, too, would be illegal.

Where can you smoke?
On pavement cafes, hotel rooms (if you book a designated smoking room) and on open-air train platforms. However anti-smoking campaigners have said they want the Government to extend smoking bans to all railway station platforms and bus shelters later and some employers are increasingly banning people from lighting up outside offices or 'private spaces' (eg hospital grounds).

Can you smoke in vehicles?
Any vehicle used as a 'workplace' by more than one person is covered by the ban. Smokers driving company cars, vans, lorries and enclosed tractors in England could be fined £50 for lighting up at the wheel if the vehicle might be handed over to a colleague from work later in the day. Basically, drivers will not be allowed to smoke in vehicles if there is chance that colleagues might later inhale their smoke, according to the draft legislation. Employees who get a company car for their sole use will be allowed to smoke while giving a non-smoking colleague a lift to work, because the journey will count as private use. But employees sharing a pool car will not be allowed to light up, even if they are all heavy smokers.

How will the ban be enforced?
The Health Bill contains wide-ranging powers, including warrants to give enforcement officers access to public places where they believe smoking may be taking place.
People who smoke in a non-smoking area will be fined £50, which could increase to £200 if they repeatedly ignore the ban. Businesses that ignore illegal smoking will be fined at least £200 rising up to £2,500, if managers fail to stop smokers lighting up.  Employers who fail to put up no smoking signs, which should measure no less than 23cm by 16cm, will be fined £200, rising to £1,000 for repeat offences. The Government has also announced that a 'shop-a-smoker' hotline will be set up so the public can inform on citizens breaching the ban.

Can actors smoke on stage or film sets?
Unlike in Scotland, actors in England will not to be prevented from smoking on stage if it is important to the artistic integrity of the performance.

See: Health Act 2006 and Smokefree England for more information. Or call their information line on 0800 169 1697.

SCOTLAND

Scotland was the first part of the UK to ban smoking in all enclosed public places on 26 March 2006. Click here for information on the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act.

The Scottish ban goes even further than the ban on smoking in England because it also denies actors the ability to light up on stage or film set. At the 2006 Edinburgh Festival tobacco control officers were said to be ready to shut down on the main venues if actor Mel Smith carried out his threat to light a cigar in his role as Churchill.

NORTHERN IRELAND

A smoking ban is to be implemented in all Northern Ireland's workplaces and enclosed public spaces, including pubs from 30 April 2007. The Northern Ireland Health Minister Shaun Woodward, has promised not to shy away from imposing "heavy" fines on pubs or hotels persistently flouting the law over smoking.

See the Smoking (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 for more information.

WALES

The Welsh Assembly will ban smoking in public places from 2 April 2007. See: Smoking Ban Wales for more information.

THE REST OF EUROPE

In the rest of the European Union only two other countries - Norway and Ireland - have implemented a ban on smoking in all enclosed public places. In March 2004 Ireland became the first European country to institute an outright ban on smoking in the workplace, including the country's more than 10,000 pubs.

Other countries, including Germany, Italy and Spain, have all made provision, in some shape or form, for smoking in pubs and hospitality outlets.

For example in Spain, the Health Committee of the Spanish Parliament approved anti-tobacco legislation in October 2005, which included regulating smoking in public places. Under this legislation smoking would be prohibited in many public places including: workplaces, commercial premises, educational institutions, sports venues and health care facilities. However smoking would still be permitted in theatres, designated areas in airports and bus stations and in bars and restaurants where the area is greater than 100m2.

The hospitality industry is self-regulated in Germany, Netherlands and Austria. On 2 March 2005 the German Government and the country's Hotel and Catering Association agreed to expand the space set aside for non-smokers in almost all restaurants and cafes. In December 2006, it was announced that if parliament approves, Germany will ban smoking in many public places but bars and beer tents will be exempted completely, and restaurants will be able to offer separate smoking rooms.

In November 2006 the government in France published a decree banning smoking in public places from February 2007 but giving bars, restaurants and nightclubs a reprieve until January 2008. Establishments that want to permit smoking will have to build hermetically-sealed "fumoirs", or smoking-rooms, to which serving staff will not be permitted access.
Separate smoking areas must be provided in Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Smoking in public places in Italy, Malta and Sweden must be in separate ventilated smoking rooms. In reality this means there are relatively few enclosed public places where smokers can light up, but they do exist.

Greece, Hungary, Poland and Finland have various exemptions for the hospitality industry.

In other workplaces, special rooms for smokers are allowed in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

UNITED STATES

Twelve states have passed smoke-free workplace legislation that includes offices, restaurants, bars, bingo halls, bowling alleys, nightclubs, casinos and public transportation.

New York City has banned smoking in restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, pool halls and company cars. New York City law also bans ashtrays and some establishments have been fined for having clean, empty ashtrays locked up in back rooms.

California - the place that started it all - has some of the toughest and most extensive anti-smoking legislation anywhere in the world. The state has banned smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, gambling clubs, casinos and bar-restaurant combinations. However, family-run bars (ie those where employees are family members) are exempt. A similar ruling in Ireland would have exempted hundreds if not thousands of small, rural bars.

Outdoor smoking is banned within 20 feet (6m) of all public and state-owned buildings entrances, exits, 'operable windows' and air intakes. Smoking is prohibited within 25 feet (8m) of playgrounds and sandboxes throughout the state. Increasingly this has been extended to parks and other outdoor areas.

In 2006, the California city of Calabasas enacted a near-complete ban on smoking in public places including outdoors (although its citizens still have ample space to smoke in their gated communities and large homes). Anti-smoking campaigners are hailing Calabasas as a model for communities everywhere.

REST OF THE WORLD

Iran banned smoking in public buildings and tobacco advertising in 2003. Smoking is not allowed in religious and administrative buildings, as well as hotels, restaurants, department stores, airports, cinemas and sports centres.
But in July 2005, it was reported by the semi-official Fars agency that the existing ban on smoking tobacco in public places had been modified to allow for "consumption in restaurants and traditional cafes".
Prohibition of tobacco

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan became the first country in the world to ban the sale of tobacco products nationwide in December 2004. Then the government announced smoke-free legislation in all places where people gather: parks, discotheques, entertainment centres, shops, and bars and restaurants. Also included in the ban are institutions like hospitals, schools and government offices.

Smoking is banned on public transport, at public gatherings, official receptions, national celebrations and vegetable markets. Smoking corners will be prohibited, in what is seen to be a further move towards making Bhutan a smoke-free nation.

Though enforcing the ban has proved a struggle. According to the Bhutanese news site Kuensel Online, smoking is gradually being allowed again in poolrooms, discotheques, bars and restaurants as owners tire of trying to uphold the ban. And they report that the sale of under the counter cigarettes is spreading.

March towards a public smoking ban (UK)

In 1998 the UK hospitality industry set up a Charter Group to promote a Voluntary Charter on Smoking in Public Places. The Charter, launched in September 1999 with the support of the Department of Health, encouraged publicans and restaurateurs to (a) implement a written policy on smoking (there were five options from smoking allowed throughout to a total ban), and (b) advertise the policy by use of signs on doors and windows so customers knew exactly what they are letting themselves in for.

Since the Charter was launched an increasing number of establishments (a) implemented a policy on smoking and (b) introduced smoke free areas, designated smoking areas and improved ventilation.

In April 2003 the Charter Group submitted a report to the Department of Health explaining how most, if not all, of the original aims and objectives had been met. There was clearly room for improvement but there were more smoke free areas in British pubs and restaurants (and therefore more choice for non-smokers) than ever before; ventilation was improving and many establishments went to great expense to install modern air filtration systems that improved air quality for everyone.

Government response

Although the Department of Health gave the report a lukewarm welcome, a DoH spokesman responded to calls by the British Medical Association for a total ban by saying it is "not justified'".

Meanwhile, in September 2003, the Sunday Times reported that both Tony Blair (an ex-smoker) and the then Health Secretary John Reid (a former 60-a-day man) were opposed to a total ban. Likewise, the then public health minister Melanie Johnson, made it very clear that a blanket ban on smoking was not on the cards as long as the hospitality industry continued to make progress towards smoke free solutions (by which she appeared to mean more smoke free areas and improved ventilation that can remove the smoke without removing the smoker).

Public Health White Paper 2004

In November 2004 the Public Health White Paper announced a ban on smoking in all public places where food is served. But it said that pubs, which do not serve "prepared food", would not have to bring in a ban. Private members clubs would also be allowed to remain exempt from the smoking ban.

The proposals for a smoking ban went further than had been expected. The Scottish Executive had proposed a blanket ban on smoking in enclosed public places the week before, but Health Secretary John Reid had adopted a compromise approach for England.

In the foreword to the White Paper, the government said it wanted to create an environment in which people are encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyles - but does not believe it is its role to force people to become healthy. The paper was drawn up after one of the largest public consultations, involving 150,000 people, over the summer of 2004.

Public consultation

In June 2005 the Government and the present Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt began a consultation on plans to ban smoking in many public places in England, a day after denying it intended a total public smoking ban.