Question reference: S5W-18323
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 20 August 2018
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Current status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 29 August 2018
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is smoking in bothies, and whether it will consider amending the Prohibition of Smoking in Certain Premises (Scotland) Regulations 2006 to include these in the list of no-smoking premises.
Answer
The advice that has been issued since the introduction of the smoking ban in relation to Bothies has been consistent and is as follows.
Bothies are not listed under schedule 1 of the smoke-free Regulations and therefore are not covered by the legislation. Whilst it could be argued that some definitions contained in schedule 1 could perhaps capture bothies, in our view it would be stretching the interpretation particularly with regard to criminal offences.
There is of course nothing to prevent the owners or those in charge of bothies to impose their own smoke-free policies and we would encourage them to do so.
In June we published an updated Tobacco Control Action Plan seting specific actions to address health inequalities and cut smoking rates in the communities where people find it most difficult to quit. A link to the plan is attached.
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/06/9483
.