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)
In the Bill, the use of the phrase
``as the case may be'',
means that either the Secretary of State or the authority will make a judgment in relation to the protection of the public. That judgment is the key that will determine the situation. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the authority would take the decision and the Secretary of State would not go through it in great detail. Our concern is that to require both, rather than either, to act ould be unnecessarily burdensome both upon the industry and upon the two organisations, the Home Office and the authorities.