Smoking (Hansard, 26 January 1993)

§ Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she will introduce legislation to protect non-smokers against passive smoking in public places and at work.
694W

§ Dr. Mawhinney
No. The "Health of the Nation" White Paper sets targets of 80 per cent. of public places being covered by effective no-smoking policies by 1994 and for the large majority of employees to be covered by a no-smoking policy by 1995. Good progress is being made by voluntary means, but, if this does not continue, we will consider taking statutory powers.

§ Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many working days are lost to British industry, per year, from smoking-related sick leave; and how much this costs.

§ Dr. Mawhinney
In its report "Smoking or Health" published in 1977, the Royal College of Physicians estimated that as many as 50 million working days may be lost in industry every year as a consequence of cigarette smoking. No current estimate is available.