SMOKING is still the biggest single preventable cause of ill health and premature death in Scotland, but some remarkable progress has been made in recent years. Smoking has been banned in enclosed public spaces for more than 10 years. The number of smokers has dropped by 20 per cent. And all of us are much less likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke.

However, the encouraging rate of progress will only be maintained if we keep a close watch on how Scotland’s anti-smoking measures are working – which is why, more than two years on from the ban on the open display of cigarettes in shops, it is troubling that tobacco firms appear to be offering bonuses to small businesses in an attempt to boost their sales.

The tobacco firms are not doing anything illegal, and it may be that the bonuses are being offered because manufacturers are feeling the pressure of the ban and tobacco is not earning what it used to for corner shops.

But paying bonuses to shop-keepers to promote their brands, or make verbal recommendations to customers, is against the spirit of the legislation. A review of the law should also investigate whether the tobacco firms are succeeding, even in a small way, in getting round the ban. The 2015 ban was introduced for good reasons. But we need to ensure that the law is working as well as it could.