Agenda item

The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of Main Issues

1.1        Smoking in cars with children present has been a topical issue for the past few years and legislation has been introduced in the other parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland to outlaw smoking in private vehicles with children present. This report accompanies the consultation response on the draft regulations to implement similar legislation in Northern Ireland.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is asked to;

·        Approve the Council’s response to the consultation.  Members should note that the consultation closes on 3rd March 2017, and the Council has been granted a one week extension. The response will therefore be forwarded to the Department of Health by 10th March 2017, with the proviso that it is subject to full Council approval at its meeting in April 2017.

3.0       Main report

3.1      Key Issues

            Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death in Northern Ireland, killing around 2,300 people each year.  In addition a strong relationship exists between smoking and health inequalities. It has a greater impact on people living in areas of social or economic deprivation. Overall, almost one in four adults in Northern Ireland is a current smoker. In deprived areas this increases to one in three; and amongst the prison population, and for those with mental ill-health problems, smoking prevalence rates are considerably higher and one in two will die as a result of smoking.

3.2       This legislation is a landmark in protecting children from second hand smoke. Smoking just a single cigarette in a vehicle exposes children to high levels of air pollutants and cancer-causing chemicals like arsenic, formaldehyde and tar, and people often wrongly assume that opening a window, or letting in fresh air, will lessen the damage. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of second-hand smoke as they breathe more rapidly and inhale more pollutants per pound of body weight than adults.

3.3       The consultation proposes an enforcement role for both PSNI and district councils but it is difficult to understand how district councils would successfully enforce the regulations given that, unlike PSNI, they do not have the power to stop vehicles. Officers would have to observe smoking in the vehicle and determine the age of the child or children present. The Council has asked the Department of Health to clarify how it considers district council officers could achieve effective compliance with the proposed regulations.

3.4       Financial & Resource Implications

            None.  The Council employs two Tobacco Control Officers, who are funded by the Public Health Agency, to enforce the various elements of tobacco control legislation.

3.5       Equality or Good Relations Implications

            None.”

            The Committee endorsed the draft response, available on the Council’s websitehere, to the Department for Heath consultation, relating to Regulations Restricting Smoking in Private Vehicles Carrying Children the Housing Executive.   It was noted that the consultation closed on 3rd March and that the Council had already been granted a one week extension, it was subsequently agreed that the response would be submitted with the proviso that it would be subject to ratification by the Council.