Thousands spent on smoke ban (From Your Local Guardian)

Thousands spent on smoke ban

9:19am Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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Croydon Council spent almost £90,000 on enforcing the smoking ban with not one conviction or official warning notice to show for it.

The figures, which came from a Freedom of Information request, revealed the money was spent on employing two temporary staff members, a smoking co-ordinator who was paid £44,281, and a smoking enforcement officer paid £38,741.

The rest of the funding, which came from the Department of Health, was spent on posters at tram and bus stops and leaflets issued to businesses. This came to an extra £5,978.

The smoking ban was introduced in July 2007 banning smoking in all enclosed public spaces and workplaces. Under the law, employers are required to display no-smoking signs in smoke-free premises and vehicles, take reasonable steps to ensure staff and customers are aware premises and vehicles are legally required to be smoke-free, remove any existing indoor smoking rooms and ensure no one smokes in smoke-free premises or vehicles.

The council said compliance with the smoking ban had been “satisfactory”, with the only informal enforcement action necessary. No notices or prosecutions were required.

The authority said there were no longer any costs involved with enforcing the ban because the responsibilities had been “absorbed by existing safety and licensing staff at no additional cost”.

A council spokesman said: “These were incredibly effective one-year appointments, over which the officers visited hundreds of businesses and did a lot of other work to raise awareness of the coming ban and ensure that people knew their responsibilities. There was an enforcement role after the ban, but the officers followed the council’s standard policy of issuing informal warnings and only falling back on fines and prosecutions as a last resort. The success of this approach is demonstrated by the high level of compliance among Croydon’s businesses and this is now monitored as a routine part of the work of safety and licensing officers.”