A ban on smoking in public places in England has been hailed a health and compliance success, one year after its introduction. On 1 July 2007, England became the final part of the UK to introduce a ban on smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces. Like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before it, the transition appears to have run smoothly.
According to a report published this month by the Department of Health, 98% of businesses now claim to be "fully compliant" with smokefree law, and 91% think that overall the law is being obeyed. The report revealed that during July 2007 and March 2008 there were 477 fixed penalty notices issued and eight court hearings for the offence of individuals smoking in a smokefree premises or vehicle.
In addition, there were 49 fixed penalty notices and 8 court hearings for signage offences, as well as 19 court hearings for the offence of failing to prevent smoking in a smokefree premises or vehicle. In the first nine months of the legislation, local authorities inspected a total of 390,148 premises and 63,532 vehicles which were required to be smokefree. They found that 98.2% were complying with the requirements of the law and that 87.2% were displaying the correct signage.
In other smoking news, information has filtered through that the smoking ban is being extended to the buildings and grounds of mental health hospitals in England. The sites were initially given an extra year to bring the ban into effect to help patients quit the habit.
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