Clause 46 - Closure of noisy premises: supplemental
Anti-social Behaviour Bill
3:30 pm
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I can be brief on this matter. It seems to me that clause 46 follows on from clause 45-[Laughter.] Perhaps that was a statement of the obvious. It not only follows numerically but makes common sense of clause 45.
I have a query about the use of environmental health officers. Subsection (2) allows the chief executive to authorise an EHO to exercise any power or duty under clause 45(1). That is sensible, but will the Minister tell the Committee whether guidance will be issued as to the seniority of the EHOs who may be used? In small councils, someone who is newly employed and relatively young can be a junior member of an environmental health department. One would not want to see junior local government officers put in a position where those organising noisy events might put them under threat.
We heard in the previous debate how events can get rowdy and out of hand. Does the Minister propose that guidance should be given so that junior members of staff cannot be landed in difficulties? I am sure that any responsible chief executive would not want that to happen. Nothing in the Bill addresses that matter. If the Minister is not able to issue guidance, perhaps he will state clearly for the record, so that it can be understood by people who read the account of our proceedings, that the chief executive should delegate only to somebody quite senior.