No smoking in the dragon's den

The Dragons' Den star said he stopped the £400-a-month payments to one of his five daughters after smelling smoke in her bedroom.

Mr Bannatyne, 58, who became an ambassador for stop smoking charity QUIT today, said if any of his other children take up the habit they will have their money slashed as well.

It comes as figures show the number of smokers kicking the habit has dropped sharply in the past year despite the NHS spending more money on helping people quit.

Mr Bannatyne visited Bevington Primary School in Ladbroke Grove yesterday as part of his anti-smoking campaign. The businessman, who runs health clubs and hotels alongside his charity work, has five daughters and a son. He refused to reveal which of his daughters he caught smoking as she would "kill him" if he named her.

He said: "She had probably smoked for a couple of weeks when I caught her four years ago. I smelt it in her bedroom and opened her window and saw ash on the windowsill.

"I didn't confront her about it, I just stopped her direct debit. She called me and said her money hadn't come through, and I said, 'I know, I stopped it because you broke the rules of the trust'."

Mr Bannatyne cut his daughter's money for two months until she stopped smoking.

He said: "At the time she was getting about £300 to £400 a month. I would encourage other parents to do the same. She said to me, 'You are controlling us'. But I said, 'I am not stopping you from smoking, I will just not pay for your cigarettes. You make your choice'." Mr Bannatyne, who was brought up in Clydebank in Scotland, smoked 30 cigarettes a day for 10 years before he gave up 30 years ago.

He added: "Smoking is such a big issue and we really need people to think about it, especially in London. I live in the North-East and never see as many smokers huddled outside restaurants and bars as I do in London. Some people think as long as they don't smoke inside a car or close to children it doesn't harm them, but it does."

His son Tom, six, and Emily, eight, are with his current wife Joanne McCue, 41. He also has four daughters from his first marriage: Abigail, 24, Holly, 22, Jennifer, 15, and Eve, 14.

The family split their time between Stockton-on-Tees, London and Cannes. A report from the NHS Information Centre reveals the number of smokers stopping has decreased by almost a third despite the health service increasing the amount it spends on getting smokers to stop.

Between April and September last year the Department of Health spent £33million on stop smoking services, while the year before it spent £26million. In that time the number of people quitting dropped by 32 per cent.

City and Hackney Teaching primary care trust was named as the worst in the country for getting smokers to quit. Its success rate was 23 per cent, compared with Redbridge primary care trust, which achieved 67 per cent.

Across London between April and September last year, 37,628 people attempted to give up smoking with NHS help, and 17,378 people managed it - a success rate of 46 per cent.