Government Departments: Smoking
House of Lords
Lord Laird (UUP)
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Astor of Hever on 13 June concerning arrangements for officials of the Ministry of Defence who smoke during office hours (WA 254), in what way the information was assessed to be too expensive to collect, by whom, and when, and why other departments were able to provide similar information at proportionate costs.
Lord Astor of Hever (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Defence; Conservative)
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has over 900 sites throughout the United Kingdom. The facilities for smoking arrangements are a local decision. The MoD does not hold this information centrally, and could therefore only be provided by collating information from every site, at disproportionate cost.
In respect of London, there is no smoking in Main Building or the Old War Office or within five metres of an entrance, steps, ramp or building window. Ashtray bins are provided beyond the south entrance ramps towards the Embankment and Whitehall entrances to the south car park.
The MoD smoking at work policy is stated in JSP 375 MoD Health and Safety Handbook Volume 2 Leaflet 50, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.