Licensees enforcing Scottish smoke ban

A survey has found that some of Scotland's smoke ban enforcers are seriously under-employed, with some councils' officers never having issued a ticket.

An investigation by Scotland On Sunday found that seven councils, together employing at least 11 full-time enforcers, have failed to issue a single penalty ticket or warning since they began work in March.

It is estimated that the salary bill for these officers is around £220,000.

Councils say there is more to the job than handing out fines.

However Stewart Maxwell, the MSP who brought the original bill before the Scottish parliament, said: "I always thought it would be self-policing. From the start I didn't think that it would be necessary to employ so many enforcement officers.

"A lot of them were certainly doing a lot of work when the ban was brought in, including distributing posters, but I don't know whether this is still the case."

Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said the money could be better spent compensating badly-hit rural pubs.

He said: "We always said that pubs would comply. We respect the law, although we don't agree with it. The publicans are the ones who have made it work. Nobody else has made it work.

"I don't see any need for the enforcement officers. The Executive could use the money to compensate the small community pubs that are really struggling because of the ban."

Meanwhile, south of the border, eight pubs in Newham, east London, banned smoking for one day to see what lessons can be learnt ahead of the English smoking ban on 1 July.

SCOTTISH HEALTH MINISTER GIVES 'BRUTAL ANSWER'

Scottish Health Minister Andy Kerr has hit out at pub bosses who said the smoking ban had severely hit Christmas trade.

The Scottish Licensed Trade Association said the impact of the ban had been "as bad as it possibly could be".

Chief executive Paul Waterson said: "Growth in drink sales in Scotland's pubs is running at less than half that in England and that's because of the smoking ban.

"It's a very gloomy picture for the licensed trade in Scotland."

However, Kerr hit back saying: "There's a brutal answer to that: this is about public health, it's about saving lives. It's not about businesses."

The results of a Scottish Executive survey into the impact of the ban are due in March.

COMMONS LOOK SET TO ADOPT BAN

The House of Commons looks set to be included in the smoking ban, despite the protests of four MPs.

The Royal Palace of Westminster is exempt from the law, but the Commons Administration Committee, a group of MPs who oversee decisions about the running of Westminster, concluded it should set an example by voluntarily adopting the ban.

The move was opposed by Tory backbencher Derek Conway, Tory committee members Greg Knight and Andrew Robathan and Labour's Brian Donohoe.

Now, according to The Guardian, the ban looks set to be adopted by a commission run by the Speaker of the House Michael Martin.

Donohoe told the paper: "Where staff are involved, smoking has to be banned, but in individual offices I think it should be a matter for MPs, not for the nanny state.

"I shall lean out of my window overlooking the Thames and puff away."

JW LEES INVESTS FOR BAN

JW Lees, the Manchester brewer and pub operator, is to invest £1m in preparing for this summer's smoking ban across its estate of 130 pubs. William Lees-Jones, managing director, said the company estimates it will spend between £10,000 and £20,000 to install smoking shelters at each of its venues He said: "Some will be like bus shelters, others will be brick construction, more like beer gardens. A lot depends on each individual building. We have to avoid a huddle at the front door of our pubs, with smokers creating an unpleasant experience, which is why we are making this investment."

The company currently operates 12 non-smoking pubs.

JERSEY toes channel isles line

Jersey is the latest place to go smoke-free. Smoking in all public buildings became illegal from 4am on 2 January. Businesses that fail to stop smoking on their premises can face a fine of £5,000.

Although licensees on the Channel island were expecting the legislation, it was only finally passed in November, giving the trade less than two months to take action.

Fellow Channel islands Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Sark banned smoking in July.