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 06 July 2008 00:33 BST

Public smoking stubbed out in Wales

Monday, 02 Apr 2007 08:26
The smoking ban comes to Wales
Smokers in Wales will be banned from lighting up in enclosed public places from today.

Under the rules, which will apply to pubs, restaurants and a range of other workplaces, individuals could be fined up to £50 for flouting the ban. Managers of non-smoking premises could be fined up to £2,500 for allowing them to do so.

The introduction of the ban in Wales follows a similar ban introduced in Scotland last year and comes ahead of new regulations to bar smoking in public places in England, which will come into force in July.

According to the Welsh Assembly government, at least 400 people die in Wales each year as a result of passive smoking.

Speaking after the final regulations to implement the ban were passed in January, Welsh health minister Brian Gibbons described the initiative as "the single most important public health measure" yet addressed by the assembly.

With less than three months to go before a similar ban is implemented in England, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is now calling on all employers to draw up a smoking policy in consultation with their staff in order to introduce the legislation in a way which does not discriminate against workers who do smoke.

The TUC has released a guide to remind employers of their obligations under the ban, which include a requirement to display no-smoking signs on their premises and to outlaw existing smoking rooms.

But while the union says that employers must protect staff and the public from the dangers of passive smoking, it also argues that businesses should "not stigmatise" hardened smokers and should offer them support if they wish to give up their habit.

Employees should also be given information about where they can smoke and what will happen if they flout the ban, the TUC says.

"With less than three months to go before smoking is outlawed in all English workplaces and public spaces, employers don't have much time to get their act together," said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

"But with a little thought and forward planning, making a workplace smoke-free can be a fairly painless experience, even for the most hardcore smokers," he added.

Meanwhile as Wales introduces a smoking ban, smokers' lobby group Forest is urging the Scottish Executive to create new regulations exempting private members' clubs and bingo halls from the ban north of the border.

The campaign group claims that the move has affected the takings of such businesses and earlier this month published a poll to mark the first anniversary of the Scottish ban, in which 74 per cent of people said they favoured an exemption.End of story


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