Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department has taken to facilitate (a) restaurants and (b) pubs to offer outdoor smoking facilities since 2010.

The provision of outdoor smoking facilities on the premises of an individual business is currently a matter for the business itself. However, where a business has a pavement license allowing it to have seating on the public highway, the national 'smoke free seating condition' must be followed. This requires the licence holder to make reasonable provision for seating where smoking is not permitted, so that where space is provided for smokers, customers will also have the option of sitting in a non-smoking area.