Thousands of council staff are being trained to impose £50 on-the-spot fines on those who breach the smoking ban, when it comes into force on July 1, it emerged yesterday.

Town halls have been given £29.5 million to hire new staff, or train existing officers, to police 3.7 million restaurants, bars, shops and workplaces in England.

Local authorities have been given the cash in an attempt to enforce the ban without taking up police time, town hall chiefs admitted yesterday.

Staff, including environmental health officers, will be allowed to enter premises, under cover, at any time, and impose fines or issue warning letters.

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BACKGROUND

• A sad addiction to anti-smoking

• Giving up smoking

• How passive smoking raises heart dangers

• No more smoking in playground as new laws begin to bite . . .

If business owners fail to ensure that their customers comply with the smoking ban they are liable to fines of up to £2,500.

The Department of Health tried to play down the proposals, denying that staff would be able to “snoop behind posts” and pounce on unsuspecting smokers.

A spokesman claimed that money was being allocated to town halls to help them prepare for the legislation this summer. “The Department of Health has provided £29.5 million over two years to help them prepare for the introduction of smoke-free legislation on July 1 and after,” said the spokesman.

“It’s up to local authorities how they spend the cash, but action could include helping local businesses prepare for July 1, ensuring that they know what they need to do and providing extra funding for street cleaning.”

The Local Government Association (LGA) admitted that more than a thousand officers are likely to be trained over the next few months, with more being trained at a later date. These could include health and safety staff, environmental health officers or licensing staff. If necessary, community police officers would be called in to help enforcement.

In London there will be several hundred “smoking police”, in Nottingham at least thirty and in Liverpool there will be about two dozen.

In Wales, where the smoking ban comes into force in April, 500 officers will be carrying out the inspections as councils have only received £3 million. A spokesman said that in most cases people would be sent a warning letter, with fines imposed if the smoker offended a second time.

Lord Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of the LGA , said that councils had no interest in “snooping” on people.

“Their only interest is in making sure that businesses, landlords and smokers understand what the smoking ban means when it comes into force, and showing those who flout the law that their actions have consequences,” he said.

“Experiences in Scotland, where a similar ban was introduced last year, have shown that the vast majority of smokers are responsible and respect the new law. No doubt the same will be true in England.”

In Scotland, only 221 fixed penalty notices have been issued after visits to 53,000 premises, according to the LGA — although several hundred warning letters have been issued.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health said that it expected councils to take a “softly, softly approach” at first. But, it added, there would be occasions where action had to be taken.

“Officers do not have to identify themselves when they go into premises and they can film and photograph people to gather evidence — although this may not be appropriate in many cases,” said Ian Gray, a policy officer with the institute.

Simon Clark, director of Forest, the smokers’ lobby group, said: “The idea of public officials snooping on people is distasteful and disproportionate. It is like taking a sledge-hammer to crack a nut.”

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