The final decision on smoking – to keep to the Labour Party’s manifesto promise to retain exemptions for private clubs and for pubs that don’t serve food – is no decision at all, and the government knows this.

We now have indecision in England when there should be a UK-wide approach and we have confusion where there should be clarity.

For example, how will food that is ‘prepared and served’ be defined? Nuts, crisps and pork scratchings can be served in a non-food pub but what about wrapped sandwiches, sausage rolls or meat pies – prepared outside the premises and sold wrapped? And does reheating those meat pies in a microwave constitute ‘preparation and service’? What is meant by the bar area? Sitting on a stool by the bar? Standing four feet away? Sitting in the snug, with the bar a few feet away? Will a hotel that has a separate restaurant to the bar be able to allow smoking at the bar?

Consultation is promised on pubs introducing ‘discrete smoking rooms or areas to protect staff’. How can these areas protect staff who are required to service them?

It seems extraordinary that the government’s own health department is considering allowing such a development given the medical evidence on the dangers of passive smoking.

The Bill suggests a fine for both offenders and licensees who allow people to smoke in non-smoking premises. But who will enforce these new regulations and who will be responsible if they are broken? Who will report the offender in the first place? What part will he or she have to play in any subsequent fine?

Patricia Hewitt said that the exemptions relate to only 1 per cent of the total UK workforce – that’s actually 250,000 people. Most of these will be in the hospitality industry. In the pub industry, it’s suggested that about 20 per cent of pubs will opt for exemption; that’s nearly 12,000 establishments. In addition, there are 6,300 private members clubs which will be automatically exempted – about 18,000 establishments in all.

Those 18,000 establishments represent more than 27 per cent of the 65,000 establishments in the total pubs, clubs and bars sector. The pubs, clubs and bars sector employs 368,000 people. If 27 per cent work in exempted premises, that’s 100,000 people.

So, Mrs Hewitt’s 1 per cent looks much larger when compared to the hospitality industry workforce – and even larger when compared to the workforce in the pubs, clubs and bars sector.

When new legislation is introduced, all these questions should have been answered. On this issue, they are only just beginning.