Dawn breaks on another dodgy dossier
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 A question by Stephen Hesford MP concerning the effects of the smoking ban "on (a) public health and (b) the Department of Health's expenditure, and what mechanisms have been put in place to measure these effects" has received the following written answer from health minister Dawn Primarolo:
"Smokefree legislation was introduced primarily to protect people from the harm of second-hand smoke in enclosed parts of work and public places. Research has been commissioned which will evaluate various aspects of the impact of the smokefree law in England; the resulting reports will be published once completed and peer reviewed.
"While it is still too early for any of the Department's commissioned research to have been published, in October 2007 Cancer Research 29 Apr 2008 : Column 259W UK and the Tobacco Control Centre published results from a small scale study of the impact of the new law. That research found that hospitality workers exposure to harmful second-hand smoke may have fallen by 95 per cent since 1 July 2007.
"An assessment of the costs and benefits of smokefree legislation is set out in the Final Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), entitled "Final Regulatory Impact Assessment to be made under Powers in Part 1 Chapter 1 of the Health Act 2006" was published by the Department in December 2006.
Note the lack of substance in Primarolo's reply. I guess we'll have to wait for the "commissioned research". I don't know why, but the words "dodgy dossier" spring to mind.
Reader Comments (5)
It is not surprising that hospitality workers are not exposed to SHS because she banned it! Whether or not they are any healthier as a result is more of a question and she states 'harmful' which is in contrast to the Health and Safety Executive's own findings. I agree that the reports will be packs of lies.
*listens intently* Ah! Loud, intensive fiddling!
Talking about "intensive fiddling", we are just about into tomorrow when we witness the, albeit lengthy, death-throws of NuLabour.
I really expect Labour to get a drubbing from motorists (fed up with congestion and being a cash-cow), teachers (fed up with their pay, HMG interference and being expected to act as unpaid policemen), parents ( fed up with SuperNanny blaming them for lack of discipline, yet threatening prosecution if they don't conform to State diktat, fed up, basically, with HMG usurping their role as parents), wheelie bin users (fed up with council tax rising and, not only getting nothing in return, but being a cash-cow for the LAs)' pensioners(bewildered that, if they're on a state pension, they must choose between eating and heating, if they're not, worrying that, in this golden age of longevity, their homes will be sold to pay for the long-term care that comes to one in four of us).
I've got a bottle of bubbly on ice, already, and when Labour comes out with its pre-prepared nonsense about a particular result being unrepresentative of the mood of the country blah, blah I'll just shout at the television!!
Oh, it will be very dodgy, Simon...
What a completely meaningless response from the minister."The main effect of the ban on smoking in public places is that smoking in public places generally doesn't happen anymore".
Is the MP likely to press her for an answer that actually says something?