Licensees: assess smoking risk

A local council has ordered licensees to carry out passive smoking risk assessments in their pubs and threatened to issue improvement notices if they do not comply.

Lancaster City Council has told one licensed trade group that it did not believe the Government was working quickly enough on the smoking issue.

The council has been warned by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), however, that it does not have the power to force hosts to conduct the assessments.

North West BBPA secretary Lee Le Clercq said: "While smoking remains a legal activity in this country, we resent local authorities harassing our members when they are operating properly within the law."

He has written to the council warning what it proposes is illegal and called for assurances that pubs will not be targeted.

Le Clercq added: "There is a Government White Paper published on the whole issue of smoking in pubs and we do not want councils such as Lancaster taking an arbitrary stance and going about the job in their own way."

But Lancaster Council says its requirements for employers to carry out risk assessments come under Health & Safety at Work Regulations, especially where risks are considered significant.

"If employers fail in their duty to produce a risk assessment when it is necessary then there is clearly a breach of legislation," said a spokesman.

l Tuppen to lobby for smoking zones ­ p3

l Ross predicts Scots smoke-ban closures ­ p13

l Guilty pleasures ­ Our man in the Snug­ p21