Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prosecutions for smoking in vehicles with children present have been carried out under the Smoke-free (Private Vehicles) Regulations 2015.

Jane Ellison

The Department assesses the impact of tobacco control measures on an ongoing basis as it develops policy. The Smoke-Free (Private Vehicles) Regulations 2015 include a requirement to review the regulations within five years of them coming into force, which will include an assessment of the effect on children’s exposure to secondhand smoke in private vehicles.

In changing the law we always said the measure of success would be in changes in attitude and behaviour, not the number of enforcement actions. Information on prosecutions for the period since the regulations were introduced has not yet been published, however we would expect very few fixed penalty notices issued for these offences would lead to court appearances.