Clause 4 - Exemptions from licensing requirement
Private Security Industry Bill [Lords]
5:30 pm
Mr Charles Clarke (Minister of State, Home Office; Norwich South, Labour)
There might be some misunderstanding. My understanding is that amendment No. 22 would require both the Secretary of State and the authority to be satisfied that suitable alternative arrangements to licensing apply before a person may be exempt from licensing by virtue of subsections (1) or (2) of clause 4—that is, it requires a double approach. Our fundamental concern is about establishing parallel systems that will overload two different bodies—the Secretary of State and the authority—both of which will have to examine the same problem in any particular case. I urge the hon. Gentleman to withdraw the amendment.
Clause 4 provides for limited circumstances in which a person may engage in licensable conduct without possessing an appropriate licence from the authority. Subsection (1) permits the Secretary of State to make regulations establishing exemptions where he or she is satisfied that valid alternative vetting arrangements exist. If such valid alternatives are already applied in some circumstances, it would be superfluous and an unnecessary burden to require a licence also from the SIA. However, to do that, the Secretary of State must be sure that the arrangements provide adequate public protection.
Subsection (2) enables the regulations to delegate to the authority the power to determine whether an employer will ensure that suitable alternative arrangements apply. The authority may permit unlicensed persons temporarily to undertake licensable activities if they or their employers have received approved contractor status under clause 15 or have been given specific dispensation under clause 4, and if the security operatives already have a licence application pending and have not had a previous application rejected. Those are very narrow and precise circumstances. The public would, rightly, expect the general circumstances that are to be regarded as validly alternative to the authority's licensing procedures to be defined only after careful scrutiny.
Subsection (3) therefore requires that the proposed arrangements should satisfy the Secretary of State or the authority
``as the case may be''—
the words that amendment No. 22 would delete—in relation to the protection of the public. To require the Secretary of State to give his or her agreement each time the authority judges that an employer meets the criteria laid down in the regulations would lead to a bureaucratic system in which two separate but parallel agencies had to approve certain decisions. That would be regarded as over-regulation.
I hope that that explanation is clear. There may have been some misunderstanding between us, in which case I hope that the hon. Gentleman will withdraw the amendment. If not, I ask him to consider the fact that the effect of the amendment would be to establish two parallel bureaucracies, which we believe would be unnecessarily burdensome. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will now change his course of action.