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The noble Lord said: My Lords, I referred earlier to these amendments. I beg to move.
Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 50 and do propose Amendment No. 50A in lieu of the words so left out of the Bill.—(Lord McIntosh of Haringey.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
(a) to any person who works at the premises in a capacity, whether paid or unpaid, which authorises him to request the unaccompanied child to leave the premises,
(b) in the case of licensed premises, to—
(i) the holder of a premises licence in respect of the premises, and
(ii) the designated premises supervisor (if any) under such a licence,
(c) in the case of premises in respect of which a club premises certificate has effect, to any member or officer of the club which holds the certificate who is present on the premises in a capacity which enables him to make such a request, and
(d) in the case of premises which may be used for a permitted temporary activity by virtue of Part 5, to the premises user in relation to the temporary event notice in question.
(4) Relevant premises are within this subsection if—
(a) they are exclusively or primarily used for the supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises, or
(b) they are open for the purposes of being used for the supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises by virtue of Part 5 (permitted temporary activities) and, at the time the temporary event notice in question has effect, they are exclusively or primarily used for such supplies.
(5) No offence is committed under this section if the unaccompanied child is on the premises solely for the purpose of passing to or from some other place to or from which there is no other convenient means of access or egress.
(6) Where a person is charged with an offence under this section by reason of his own conduct it is a defence that—
(a) he believed that the unaccompanied child was aged 16 or over or that an individual accompanying him was aged 18 or over, and
(b) either—
(i) he had taken all reasonable steps to establish the individual's age, or
(ii) nobody could reasonably have suspected from the individual's appearance that he was aged under 16 or, as the case may be, under 18.
(7) For the purposes of subsection (6), a person is treated as having taken all reasonable steps to establish an individual's age if—
(a) he asked the individual for evidence of his age, and
(b) the evidence would have convinced a reasonable person.
(8) Where a person ("the accused") is charged with an offence under this section by reason of the act or default of some other person, it is a defence that the accused exercised all due diligence to avoid committing it.
(9) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(10) In this section "supply of alcohol" means—
(a) the sale by retail of alcohol, or
(b) the supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to, or to the order of, a member of the club."
51Clause 149, page 81, line 36, leave out "sale" and insert "supply"."
52Leave out Clause 151
53Clause 152, page 83, leave out lines 16 to 19 and insert—
"(i) the holder of a premises licence in respect of the premises,
(ii) the designated premises supervisor (if any) under such a licence, or
(iii) any individual aged 18 or over who is authorised for the purposes of this section by such a holder or supervisor,"
54Clause 160, page 87, line 11, leave out "disturbance" and insert "nuisance"
55Clause 166, page 90, line 44, after "20" insert ", (Mandatory condition in licences: exhibition of films)"
56Clause 172, page 95, line 8, at end insert— "( ) at premises which, at the time when the activity is carried on, are permanently or temporarily occupied for the purposes of the armed forces of the Crown,"
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 51 to 58.
Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 51 to 58.—(Lord McIntosh of Haringey.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
57Clause 194, page 107, line 34, at end insert—
"(aa) an order under section 98(7A)(alteration of maximum temporary event period),
(ab) an order under section 105(10A) (alteration of limit on number of temporary event notices),"
58Page 108, line 3, leave out "(3)(b)" and insert "(3)(aa), (ab), (b)"
59Clause 198, page 108, line 33, leave out subsection (6)
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 59. This is the privilege amendment.
Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 59.—(Lord McIntosh of Haringey.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
60Schedule 1, page 111, line 23, leave out "playing of" and insert "performance of live music or the playing of recorded"
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 60. I shall speak also to Amendment No. 61.
The Government have considered very carefully the amendments made to the Bill in this House. Some of those defeats were overturned during Committee in another place; some of them we have compromised on, bringing forward significant concessions. Indeed, some we have accepted wholeheartedly, subject to necessary technical modification. The issue of incidental live music, which is the subject of these amendments, falls into the third category.
I hope that the House will allow me to make one matter clear. Regardless of all the myths and misinformation surrounding the Licensing Bill in relation to regulated entertainment, the Government are firmly committed, and have always been so, to improving the range and diversity of cultural provision available to the public, and preserving those important musical traditions that help define the character of the country. That is why the Bill was designed to make it much easier and cheaper for venues to get a licence to put on entertainment, and why it removes the perverse disincentive of the two-in-a-bar rule.
Having said that, we accept that there was more that could be done in the Bill to further that aim, which is why we have come forward with a range of concessions since the Bill was introduced. We have exempted places of public religious worship; we have amended the Bill to make it clear that entertainers who perform at unlicensed venues and do no more, will not be committing an offence. We have announced that we will exempt church halls, village halls and other community buildings from fees for entertainment. We shall use the statutory guidance to ensure that only necessary and proportionate conditions are attached to licences.
As part of that package of concessions, we have accepted in entirety the broader of the two amendments made in this House, which would exempt incidental live music as well as incidental recorded music, subject to technical modification to ensure that the effect of the amendment is perfected.
Government Amendment No. 61 removes an anomaly that arose as a result of amendments made in this House. The spirit of the amendment to paragraph 7 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 was to exempt all incidental live music as well as incidental recorded music. Paragraph 11 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 provides an exemption for unamplified incidental live music. As the Government have accepted the principle that all incidental live music should be exempt from the requirement to obtain a licence, whether amplified or not, that further exemption is unnecessary and has been removed from the Bill. We have accepted the broader of the two amendments made in this House. The effect of the amendment that the Government overturned in the Commons is subsumed entirely within the one that we accepted. I beg to move.
Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 60.—(Lord McIntosh of Haringey.)
1 p.m.
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, we thank the Government for accepting this amendment. We support the amendments that they have put forward.
Baroness Buscombe: My Lords, we also thank the Government and support Amendment Nos. 60 and 61.
On Question, Motion agreed to.
61Page 112, line 13, leave out paragraph 11
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 61.
Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 61.—(Lord McIntosh of Haringey.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
62Page 112, line 31, leave out paragraph 12
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 62.
The amendment made in another place reverses an extremely damaging amendment made by this House. That amendment, which was called—misleadingly, in my view—"Exemption for small premises", exposes the public, particularly children, to great safety and harm risks, leaves residents without a voice to protest against nuisance and strips away the powers of the police to control crime and disorder at vast swathes of venues across the country, many of which may be totally unsuitable for the provision of regulated entertainment.
I received a letter today from Councillor Simon Milton, the leader of Westminster City Council, who says that if our amendment were not made, 62 per cent of the licensed premises in Westminster would no longer be subject to licensing. He says, in particular, that since virtually all strip clubs are for fewer than 250 people—I am sure that that applies to all of them—there would be no licensing of such clubs. Imagine what that means.
I understand the sentiments behind the amendment and the deregulatory intention.
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