Wales bans smoking on school and hospital grounds

Patients and their visitors will now have to leave hospital grounds if they want to smoke after Assembly Members brought in tough new anti-cigarette laws.

Under the rules which were ushered in last night smoking will also be banned from school land and outdoor areas of registered childcare settings.

The groundbreaking legislation is likely to be hailed by health campaigners and could now form the framework of a ban across the UK to improve the nation’s health, Walesonline reported.

The Public Health (Wales) Bill was passed in the Senedd and will bring in wide-ranging changes, including making it illegal to smoke in school grounds, public playgrounds, and hospital grounds.

But a previous section imposing a ban on e-cigarettes in some enclosed places was dropped.

The law also places a duty on the Welsh Government to reduce obesity levels.

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This is what the newly-passed law includes:

• Banning tobacco and nicotine products from being handed over to under 18s by home delivery or collection services

• Creating a national register of retailers of tobacco and nicotine products

• Creating a mandatory licensing scheme for “special procedures”, namely acupuncture, body piercing, electrolysis and tattooing, and prohibiting the intimate piercing of anybody under the age of 18

• Placing a duty on local authorities to prepare and publish a local toilets strategy, including an assessment of the need for toilets for public use and details of how that need will be met

• Requiring public bodies in Wales to assess how their decisions will affect people’s physical and mental health

• Making the planning of pharmacy services more responsive to the needs of their local community

• Placing a duty on the Welsh Government to produce a national strategy on preventing and reducing obesity

Rebecca Evans, Minister for Social Services and Public Health, said: “This is a landmark day for public health in Wales. The Public Health (Wales) Bill is a radical piece of legislation which will improve and protect the health and wellbeing of the nation.

“Once law, the Bill will make a real difference to people in Wales.

“Children will be protected from the harms of second-hand smoke and the dangers of intimate piercing; better planning of public toilet provision should mean older people, people with disabilities, and people caring for young children won’t be put off leaving the house; while anybody undergoing a special procedure will be able to have confidence that the person carrying it out has safe working practices.

“All of us will benefit from the requirements on public bodies to assess how their decisions will affect people’s physical and mental health and the move to make the planning of pharmacy services more responsive to the needs of communities.

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“I would like to thank all of the partners who worked with us to develop the Bill, and Assembly Members, whose constructive scrutiny has strengthened the final legislation. This radical new law will have a significant, lasting positive impact on health in Wales.”

After the vote Dr Mair Parry, officer for Wales at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “Tackling childhood obesity and restricting smoking in public areas such as playgrounds, schools and hospital grounds are key public health priorities that will have a major impact on improving child health.

“The Public Health (Wales) Act commits to addressing these issues and we look forward to working with the Welsh Government to make them a reality.

“With a quarter of children in Wales overweight or obese it’s a major public health threat that needs to be dealt with urgently and effectively.”

The first attempt at passing the legislation was defeated in March last year following a row between Labour and Plaid Cymru .

Plaid voted against the Bill in a last-minute move, meaning the Assembly was tied 26-26 and the Bill failed to pass .

Their U-turn came after Leighton Andrews, then Public Services Minister, said a previous deal with the party was a “cheap date”.