Vaping and smoking in playgrounds and outside schools could be banned, the Health Secretary has said, although the Government has rowed back on making it illegal to smoke in pub beer gardens.
Wes Streeting said the hospitality industry has “taken a real battering in recent years” and it is not “the right time” to ban smoking outside pubs, as was reported earlier this year.
He said, however, that smoking and vaping could be banned in other public places in England under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, being introduced to Parliament on Tuesday.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it is already an offence to smoke on NHS hospital grounds. The new plans would see this also introduced in England.
Mr Streeting told LBC Radio the Bill will help “clamp down on the scourge of youth vaping”.
He said: “We’re also proposing to regulate vapes – vaping outside schools and playgrounds – as part of a wider package to clamp down on the scourge of youth vaping, which will include licensing for retailers, enforcement and also clamping down on the marketing and vaping and advertising and packaging and flavours of vapes to kids.
“Taken together, I think this is a sensible package to tackle what is still one of Britain’s biggest killers on smoking, but also to clamp down on the scourge of use of vaping.”
He told Times Radio the suggestion there would be a smoking ban outside pubs came from a “leak”.
He said: “One of the happy consequences of a Government leak, which is exactly what happened over the course of the summer in terms of the discussions we were having on outdoor hospitality, is that we were effectively able to start the debate on it and start the consultation on it early.
“One of the things that we have to weigh up – and we’ll be weighing up when it comes to public health – the upside benefits in terms of benefits to public health and any downside risks, particularly in terms of people’s liberties and livelihoods.
“And I think it is no secret that UK hospitality has had a battering in recent years with the pandemic, and also the challenges in the economy and in people’s pockets means that there’s an ongoing challenge,
“So we judged that on balance, this wasn’t the right time to go ahead with an outdoor ban, so we’re not going to be consulting on that.”
Mr Streeting told LBC the Government had listened carefully to feedback from industry.
He said: “To be fair to the hospitality industry, they’ve taken a real battering in recent years – I don’t think it’s in anyone’s interest for us to worsen that situation.
“So we listened to what the hospitality industry said, and therefore we’re not proposing to go ahead with an outdoor hospitality ban at this stage.”
It comes as England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, made the case in The Times for smoking bans in outdoor spaces.
He said the “concentrations of toxic chemicals” from tobacco could be high even when outside or in covered outdoor areas.
He wrote: “Outdoor spaces generally have lower concentrations of the toxic chemicals from tobacco than indoor spaces.
“But studies show they can still be significant, near or downwind of smoking, or in areas like a walled or covered outdoor space.
“If you can smell smoke, you are inhaling it in appreciable amounts.”
Mr Streeting was asked whether people who go in to pub beer gardens are choosing to take the risk of inhaling second-hand smoke.
He told Times Radio that people might want to adopt the principle that “if you can smell it, it’s there, it’s probably doing you some harm”.
Asked specifically if people who go to a pub garden are choosing to take the risk, he replied: “Yes, and we could have gone further in terms of saying, ‘well, in that case, we’re going to clamp down on outdoor hospitality spaces’, but we had to also weigh up the current pressures on that sector.”
On the marketing and the packaging of vapes, Mr Streeting said the Government would clamp down on their appeal to children.
He said: “(This) is also about the marketing, the packaging, the flavours of vapes – this is a cynical industry that has sought to addict a new generation of children to nicotine.”
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will prevent anyone born after January 1 2009 from legally smoking by gradually raising the age at which tobacco can be bought.
The Bill will also introduce restrictions on vape advertising and sponsorship, as well as restricting flavours, displays and the packaging of e-cigarettes to reduce their appeal to children and young people.
Disposable vapes will be banned from June 1 2025 under separate environmental legislation.
Health charities have welcomed the Bill, which will be subject to consultation for several months.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said: “The rumoured ban on smoking in outdoor areas understandably caused angst amongst hospitality businesses, who were concerned that it would impact trade and undermine their investments in creating outdoor spaces for customers.
“While we’re yet to see the detail, this initial confirmation that hospitality won’t be included is positive.
“Now is not the time for further cost to be added to businesses and we’re pleased the Government has listened to, and acted on, the sector’s concerns.”
