Annex 1: Monitoring and evaluation
The Government's monitoring and evaluation strategy
should include the following:
- Use of the Health Survey for
England to monitor changes in non-smokers' exposure at the level
of the whole population. The Survey has recorded cotinine levels
in the population of England for the past ten years, and analyses
have already been made of the changes in non-smokers' exposure
over that time. Saliva sampling for cotinine should therefore
be retained as a core part of the Health Survey for England.
- Before-and-after studies of exposure to SHS in
the workplace, especially in pubs, with both food and non-food
pubs adequately represented in the sample. An analogous study
has been carried out in the Republic of Ireland and reported in
the British Medical Journal.[141]
Such studies should highlight the differential impact of the legislation
on workers in food and non-food pubs, as well as the overall benefit
of smoke-free legislation.
- Studies of the economic impact of the legislation.
- Surveys of public opinion to gauge the level
of support for smoke-free legislation. The ONS Omnibus Survey,
sponsored by the Department of Health, currently includes questions
assessing public opinion on this matter every year in October/November,
but the Omnibus is conducted monthly, allowing more frequent tests
to be made.
- Checks on compliance, to monitor whether the
legislation is being observed; how many breaches are recorded;
whether the food provisions are being circumvented by the provision
of take-aways or nearby food outlets, as some have suggested may
happen.
- Checks to establish how many licensed premises
(1) stop serving food in order to allow smoking to continue (and
the socio-economic characteristics of the areas in which they
are situated) and (2) go out of business altogether.
- Monitoring of national smoking prevalence to
see if there is any evidence of an impact (and a comparison with
the 1.7% decline projected by the Regulatory Impact Assessment).
This could also be done through the Omnibus Survey.
141 Shane Allwright, G. Paul et al., Legislation
for smoke-free workplaces and the health of bar workers in Ireland:
before and after study, British Medical Journal, vol 331,
pp 1117-19 Back
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