The Ministry for Health yesterday fell short of denying that it has stopped employing people to carry out inspections to check whether no-smoking establishments are allowing patrons to light-up inside but in a hasty reaction earlier today it transpired that these inspections were effectively overhauled some two months ago.

In reply to specific questions about this measure, the Health Ministry initially chose to reply in vague terms but later on today, after a story was published on The Malta Independent newspaper and online, the Ministry reacted by stating that inspections are ongoing and that between January and March of 2016 a total of 620 tobacco inspections where carried out.

In reaction to the article a spokesperson for the Ministry told this newsroom that in 2013 a total of 30 fines where issued for tobacco related infringements. These went up to 37 in 2014 and subsequently 44 in 2015.  Asked whether the 620 inspection in 2016 where carried out until March the spokesperson said that the inspections department was going through an overhaul and overtime was heavily reduced. “This may have caused the uproar among inspectors,” admitted the spokesperson. 

In April 2004, all smoking was banned in enclosed places including public transportation, clubs and restaurants. In 2013, a total ban on smoking in public places came into effect.

In answer to questions why such inspections were stopped, a spokesperson at the Ministry was generic in the reply, saying that “the number of contraventions acted on has actually increased from 30 for the whole of 2013, to 56 for the first four months of the year.”

The Malta Independent had sent a number of pointed questions regarding the matter, mainly asking for confirmation that budget shortages are indeed the reason behind inspections no longer taking place within the Health Ministry.

Follow-up questions, based on confirmation that this information is indeed true, related to whether future plans to allocate more money for such inspections are in the pipeline and what led to such budget shortages. In addition to this, The Malta Independent also asked which department specifically used to be tasked with carrying out tobacco inspections.

In response to these questions, a spokesperson from the Health Ministry said:

“The Environmental Health Officers (EHO’s) within The Environmental Health Directorate, together with the Police are the only authorized officers in terms of the Tobacco (Smoking Control) Act Chapter 315 and its subsidiary legislation empowered to enforce the same rules.   

“These rules are enforced during the course of inspections in food business establishments, during the investigation of complaints lodged by the general public and through special directed programs at different hours. The number of contraventions acted on has actually increased from 30 for the whole of 2013, to 56 for the first 4 months of this year.”

The fact that there was no denial of halting tobacco inspections within the Health Ministry, lead one to believe that such inspections are for now being carried out solely by the Malta Police Force, who are already viewed as being overworked and undermanned. It was only after this newsroom published the story that the Ministry came forth with more details that could have easily been forwarded upon request.

The follow-up questions whether more funds will be allocated to tobacco inspections within the Environmental Health Office remained unanswered.

Questions sent to the Ministry for Health:

I have received information that due to budgetary reasons, the health and safety department [or the entity in charge of employing the health inspectors - please clarify if it is another department] has stopped employing workers to carry out undercover inspections at no-smoking establishments. In light of this, I am asking:

1. Do you confirm this to be true?

2. If so, are there any plans in motion to allocate more money into the budget and rehire the persons carrying out inspections?

3. What led to the shortage of money in the budget for this? Was there some unforeseen expense which meant that funding for initiatives such as this has to be cut? If so what was the unforeseen expense?

 

4. Is there a timeline for when these inspectors will be re-instated? If not is there some other form of enforcement plan which might be less costly to the government?