Issue - meetings

The Secretary to the Employer’s Side submitted a report on a revised Smoke-free Workplace Policy which had been last reviewed in 2007.  She explained that the policy had been updated to support the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2013-2018 and feedback received through managers and the Here to Help programme.  The Secretary to the Employer’s Side outlined the key changes which effectively introduced a totally smoke-free environment.

The Chairman was pleased to see the policy encompassing the Council’s health and wellbeing policies.

The Secretary to the Staff Side expressed concern that the policy had changed substantially to a proposed total ban on smoking following its submission to Corporate Management Team.  He queried its enforceability and how this might, from a wider perspective, create problems for managers, i.e. managing people taking excessively long coffee breaks, etc.  The Secretary to the Staff Side suggested that a more positive approach to encourage staff not to smoke was less adversarial and more supportive.

Members debated the potential problems of managing an outright ban within Council boundaries and its legal obligations and enforcement in relation to third parties and customers using its services and facilities. 

The Chairman suggested that the matter be deferred to enable the Secretary to the Employer’s Side to:-

·               review the implications of a total no smoking ban;

·               consider ways in which smokers could be encouraged not to smoke; and

·               how the Council could influence service providers, i.e. contractors in enforcing a total ban.

RESOLVED – that the matter be deferred to enable the Secretary to the Employer’s Side to:

·               review the implications of a total no smoking ban;

·               consider ways in which smokers could be encouraged not to smoke; and

·               how the Council could influence service providers i.e. contractors in enforcing a total ban.