Clause 19 - Closure of certain licensed premises due todisorder or disturbance
Criminal Justice and Police Bill
5:30 pm
Mr Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
My right hon. and learned Friend, with his background and knowledge in this sector, may wish to expand on that argument. The words
``as soon as reasonably practicable''
appear in new section 179B—clearly a wide-ranging formulation. As my right hon. and learned Friend said, there is a gap in the logic behind it. The extensions that can be granted during emergencies mean that it could be longer than a day before the matter is reviewed.
Exemption of liability means that an officer cannot be held to account by the publican in any circumstances, yet he faces the prospect of a large bill if a mistake is made. This widely drawn provision will allow premises to be closed if a couple of yobs in the road are fighting, even if the fight is wholly unrelated to the premises.
I hoped that the Minister would jump at the opportunities provided by the amendments and would acknowledge that, of course, any trouble should be in the immediate vicinity of the pub. Indeed, those were his words. I fail to understand why he cannot accept that any disorder must relate to the premises because, when he explained his attitude to the industry, he affirmed that disturbances would have to be directly connected with the pub.
I am not suspicious of the Minister's motives. I am sure that he has been advised to act in a certain way and is doing his best to achieve his ends within that advice, but he has not kept faith with the words that he used earlier to describe his intentions. His concession to think further about ``immediate'' was so qualified that he meant that there would be no guarantees of that happening at all. I am sure that the Minister will agree. To dismiss out of hand the idea that the disorder should be related to the premises is not good enough.
We would be happy to withdraw our amendments, save for No. 36, which deals with the immediacy issue, amendment No. 82, which would ensure that the disorder should be related to the premises, and amendment No. 84, which concerns the emission of noise, although I accept that that is not really part of the overall concept of the Bill, which is supposed to deal with public safety and people being put in danger. While irritating, noise is not in that category, but there should be a warning system under the Bill. Given the unsatisfactory nature of the Minister's explanation, I am minded to support amendment No. 131 tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate because to have the words
``or in the vicinity of''
in the Bill without there being a proper safeguard is unacceptable.