But Ms Hewitt said the plans would mean 99% of workplaces would be smoke-free. The fact private clubs and non-food pubs could continue to allow smoking should not detract from the positive measures in the bill, she said.
Ms Hewitt is thought to favour a full ban on smoking in all enclosed public spaces, and proposed a wider ban which would only have exempted sealed staff-free "smoking rooms" in non-food pubs.
But those plans were abandoned after rows with Cabinet colleagues - rows which ended with agreement to return to the partial ban proposed in Labour's election manifesto, drawn up by ex-health secretary John Reid.
Those manifesto plans had been ditched earlier this month after a three month consultation period reportedly concluded they were "unworkable" and that many pubs would just stop serving food.
'Wasted opportunity'
Ms Hewitt told BBC Radio 4's Today the plans had disadvantages, but said there were disadvantages with all the options.
She said: "The bill that I am introducing today is going to ban smoking in every office, in every factory, every shop, every restaurant, every public transport, virtually every enclosed public space and work space.
"This is an enormous step forward for public health... it is going to make it easier for people who want to give up smoking to do so... over time it will save thousands of lives."
Asked about the Cabinet splits, she said: "There is total agreement on 99% of the policy. On the 1%, not only in government but I think across the country, there was real disagreement.
"That is why we did what any organisation does in that situation, we sat down, we discussed it amongst ourselves - it spilled out a bit into the public but we discussed it among ourselves - and we agreed the way forward that is in line with the manifesto on which we were all re-elected five months ago."
Ms Hewitt said she still believed that a complete ban on smoking in enclosed public places, as planned or coming into force in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, was probably inevitable.
The bill includes a provision for the measures to be reviewed after three years.
She also stressed that there would be consultation on her plan to restrict smoking in exempted pubs to sealed "smoking rooms".
Reacting to the proposals, James Johnson, chairman of the British Medical Association, expressed his "utter disappointment" at the "wasted opportunity to protect the public's health".
Professor Alex Markham, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said he was "utterly dismayed" at the plans.
Ms Hewitt is expected to highlight other parts of the bill as it is introduced into Parliament on Thursday.
The Health Bill also includes measures to tackle MRSA, new rules on managing controlled drugs, proposals to pave the way for reform of pharmacies, including new roles for pharmacy staff.
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Methinks the government has screwed this one up a bit. As usual, the white paper represents New Labour's coveted "third way" of doing things, which any sane person in the country knows doesn't exist. You either do something properly or don't, there's no in between. I find the attitude of the "we can smoke because we're entitled to" camp particularly reprehensible. I suppose it would be similarly ok if I stood next to a smoker and slowly injected sulphuric acid into his bloodstream? Because hey, it's a free country and I can do what the hell I like. Apparently.
At this time, a lot has also been made of pollution in general. Some argue that if you're going to ban smoking in public, why not go the whole hog and ban cars, because they're so bad for global warming? I really wish someone would do a study into the effects of traffic light construction on global warming, because it's so obvious that if you make cars stop more, they expend more energy, thus contributing to ozone layer depletion. This is why fuel economy in urban areas is so markedly poor compared to motorway and rural driving. But I suppose it's much more convenient for the anti-motoring lobby to tarnish drivers with the same brush and depict us all as Satan. Dear God, we want to go where we want, when we want, instead of sharing the bus with some smelly paedophile, someone really must send in the exorcists!
