FOI request (FOI-66363076)

It's Still Tobacco is a community and voluntary organisation that aims to work closer with local authorities around the legislative enforcement of shisha tobacco - also known as water pipe, hookah, nargile or hubble-bubble. Shisha tobacco use is harmful to health but the number of cafes where it is consumed has grown remarkably in the UK in recent years. Surveillance of the UK shisha tobacco industry, however, is severely lacking.

With this in mind we would like to ask the following questions about your local authority area, where we define a "shisha cafe" as any premise where the sale AND consumption of shisha tobacco occurs on site, and can include restaurants, clubs, lounges, cafes, and other venues. This information is likely to be held in Trading Standards and/or Environmental Health Departments:

Q1. Can you please provide the estimated number or range of shisha cafes known A) as of January 2018 and B) as of January 2017. Please reply "unknown" if this information is not held.

Q2. A) How many prosecutions have been made for violations of the smoke-free law since its implementation on 1st July 2007? B) How many of these violations were by shisha cafes?

Q3. In each calendar year of 2015, 2016, and 2017:

A) How many inspections were made to shisha cafes by Trading Standards or Environmental Health Officers?

B) Of these inspections, how many shisha cafes required intervention due to lack of compliance with policies (including tobacco, health and safety, and licensing laws)?

C) Of these inspections, approximately how many kilograms of illicit shisha tobacco were seized in total?

D) Of these inspections, how many led to prosecutions and what was the total amount ordered to pay from the shisha cafe business?

Q4. In each calendar year of 2015, 2016, and 2017, how many reports of underage smoking have there been at shisha cafes?

Q5. In each calendar year of 2015, 2016, and 2017, how many complaints were made for noise and nuisance against shisha cafes?

Q6. Of the known shisha cafes in your local authority area, approximately how many:

A.  Claim to sell non-tobacco "herbal" shisha?

B.  Allow shisha smoking at the frontage of the premises?