Request for information on shisha cafes
Dear Northumberland County Council,
ShishaWatch (previously It’s Still Tobacco) is a volunteer-run industry watchdog. We monitor and survey the UK’s shisha industry and work with partners to understand the issues and find solutions, including around the legislative enforcement of shisha tobacco.
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. Please ensure these questions are answered jointly by Environmental Health and Trading Standards.
Q1. Please provide the estimated number or range of shisha cafes known as of January 2024.
Please reply "unknown" if this information is not held.
Q2. a) Please state the number of prosecutions made for violations of the smoke-free law in 2023.
b) How many of these violations were by shisha cafes?
Q3. a) Please state how many inspections were made to shisha cafes by Trading Standards, Environmental Health, or other officers in 2023.
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 successful prosecutions and what was the total amount ordered to pay from the shisha cafe business?
Q4. Please state the number of reports of underage smoking at shisha cafes in 2023.
Q5. Please state the number of complaints made for noise and nuisance against shisha cafes in 2023.
Many thanks,
Zainab Hussain
ShishaWatch
FOI and EIR
Our reference: 1244095
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Dear Ms Hussain
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 13 March
2024.
We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and we aim to send a response by 12 April 2024.
In some cases, a fee may be payable. If we decide a fee is payable, we
will send you a fee notice and we will require you to pay the fee before
proceeding with your request.
Please note that further to the [1]Information Commissioner's guidance
regarding spreadsheets, Northumberland County Council has taken the
decision not to share spreadsheets as part of FOI or EIR responses going
forward.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 may restrict the release of some or
all of the information you have requested. We will carry out an assessment
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the case and advise you of your rights to request an internal review and
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Yours sincerely
Shirley Alderson
Information Governance Team
Northumberland County Council
W: [2]www.northumberland.gov.uk
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FOI and EIR
Our reference: 1244095
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Dear Ms Hussain
Thank you for your request for information received on 13 March 2024.
Please find attached our response to your request.
Yours sincerely
Debbie Carter
Public Protection
Northumberland County Council
W: [1]www.northumberland.gov.uk
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
Northumberland County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Northumberland County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Northumberland
County Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising
from the use of this email or attachments.
References
Visible links
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