. . council decrees end of workers’ fag break

That may be a good thing as Nottinghamshire County Council looks set for an entrenched battle with public sector union Unison, which has said the new rule would be “unenforceable”.

John Tomlinson, the council’s deputy director of public health, said smoking was still “public health’s number one enemy”.

Nottinghamshire county council, which has circulated a policy document telling staff that they have “no right to smoke”, said that it had a duty of care to protect the health of its employees. Will they punish them for not being healthy enough and make them go for a run for their penance? Motorists and auto passengers in England and Wales face a ban on smoking in vehicles carrying children from 1 October, and there are plans to extend bans to outdoor public spaces. You’re not going to help anyone by forcing them down a route.

Since the first smoking ban was introduced, smoking prevalence among adults [pdf] has fallen by about three percentage points, from 22% in 2006 to 19% in 2013.

Unions will discuss the proposals with the council in the autumn, with the ban expected to come into force early next year.

Smoking breaks are not allowed at Derby City Council either. Smokers would only be allowed to light up during their longer lunch break. Fitzpatrick said the measures appeared “stringent”. “We are putting it to our member ship and we will ask them how they feel about it”.

Its stance on e-cigarettes would be open to review pending legislation to officially license them, it said.

The initiative would stop all of Nottinghamshire’s 9,000 staff from smoking during their short morning and afternoon breaks, while also preventing staff in uniform from smoking on their way to and from work.

“National research suggests that staff who smoke take more time off work to have breaks and have more sick leave through respiratory problems”.

“Anyone who is at work and smoking will be disciplined”.