Mental Health and Wellbeing Minister Eluned Morgan

FROM today it becomes illegal to smoke in hospital grounds, school grounds, public playgrounds and the outdoor areas of childcare settings in Wales.

We are incredibly proud that Wales will be the first part of the UK to outlaw smoking in such areas and hope it will lead to others following in our footsteps.

It was only 14 years ago that the indoor smoking ban came into force and we’ve seen the significant impact this had.

We hope this new legislation will not only stop people from smoking in these areas, but it will also reduce exposure to harmful second-hand smoke, support those trying to quit and discourage the younger generation from starting in the first place.

We have targeted school grounds, public playgrounds and childcare settings as we understand that banning smoking in areas where children and young people go regularly will change how they view smoking and make it seem less socially acceptable.

Reducing the number of young people taking up smoking will save lives and improve health for generations to come.

We’ve also chosen hospital settings as we want these to be places where people make positive choices for their health, and are not confronted by second-hand smoke or the temptation to light up if they’re trying to quit.

Anyone caught smoking in a smoke-free area could face a £100 fine, but we’d rather inform and signpost smokers to where they can get help and support to quit.

In the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran they have a smoke-free enforcement officer who will be speaking with patients and visitors and supporting the introduction of the new legislation.

We know how hard it can be to quit something when you are surrounded by it, so we want to support smokers because we know stopping smoking brings immediate benefits to health.

There are NHS help and support services available for people trying to stop smoking and we would urge anyone wanting to quit to contact the HelpMeQuit.

Quitting with support provides the best chance to stop smoking for good and their advice could be the final piece in the jigsaw for success.

The simple reason why we have brought this law into place is that we know smoking is extremely harmful and damaging to health, so limiting where people smoke will support the health of people in Wales.