Health Bill

As far as I know, that particular point has not been put to us—we have considered the specific issue of oilrigs, where workers cannot leave the site. I undertake to consider my hon. Friend’s point more closely, but at this stage my response is that we expect workers in such factories, as in other workplaces, to go off the site to smoke, if that is what is required by safety regulations. As I have said, we shall seek to protect all staff, even in the limited number of premises that allow smoking, through the consultation on smoking areas. We are following the example of virtually everywhere else that has considered how to legislate on smoking in public: California, New York, Norway, Sweden, Australia and many others either have moved or are moving towards a full ban, and they all began by exempting licensed premises and, in some cases, the hospitality industry, before removing those exemptions as public support for the ban grew.