Vaping and smoking in playgrounds and outside schools may be banned – Streeting

Vaping and smoking in playgrounds and outside schools could be banned, the Health Secretary has said, although the Government has rowed back on making it illegal to smoke in pub beer gardens. Wes Streeting said the hospitality industry has “taken a real battering in recent years” and it is not “the right time” to ban smoking outside pubs, as was reported earlier this year. He said, however, that smoking and vaping could be banned in other public places in England under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, being introduced to Parliament on Tuesday. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it is already an offence to smoke on NHS hospital grounds. The new plans would see this also introduced in England.