Schedule 1 - Provision of regulated entertainment
Licensing Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Dr Kim Howells (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Pontypridd, Labour)
These probing amendments are fascinating. They would remove the concept of entertainment facilities from the Bill, although that concept is part of the definition of the ''provision of regulated entertainment''.
As a starting point, it is important to appreciate the difference between the words ''entertainment'' and ''entertainment facilities''. Under schedule 1, the word ''entertainment'' includes, among other things, a performance of dance, including, for example, ballet
or clog dancing performed for an audience. It would not cover dancing in a discotheque that is performed not by individuals intending to entertain an audience, or even the other dancers, but by members of the public dancing for their own personal satisfaction and entertainment. I suppose people might be strutting their stuff to impress another dancer, but that is something different.
Similarly, ''entertainment'' includes a performance of live music, but only in the presence of an audience for the purpose of entertaining that audience. An ''entertainment facility'' would be one that provided musical instruments or karaoke equipment for use by the public, even if only the individuals using the facility themselves were being entertained.
The Bill deals with that difference by recognising that in such circumstances the provision of the facility should be covered—the dance floor or the karaoke machine provided for the members of the public at the venue. If it did not do so, music and dancing that might give rise to public safety problems or noise nuisance would escape control.
Clubbing gives rise to serious public safety issues because the people dancing at clubs are often, I am afraid to say, in a vulnerable state as a result of taking drugs. Last year, the Home Office published guidance entitled ''Safer Clubbing'', which advises club operators of the potential dangers of the heady mix of drugs and certain types of music and dancing. It points out that the key dangers from drugs like ecstasy are from dehydration and overheating, which are made worse by dancing in overcrowded conditions in poorly ventilated premises to hypnotic music. ''Safer Clubbing'' recommends that licensing conditions tackle such issues.
As I have done my rounds, I have spoken to the owners of nightclubs—the entrepreneurs—who tell me that the cost of providing adequate air conditioning in some of the big clubs is huge and prohibitive and that it forms a large part of the capital outlay in building clubs. Those people recognise that there are special conditions.
In certain venues, conditions will be attached that require the provision of free drinking water, adequate ventilation, ''chill-out'' rooms, where dancers can escape the loud music and safe capacities that prevent overcrowding. If the Bill did not include the provision of entertainment facilities, those sorts of protection could not be imposed and enforced.
On music, the potential for disturbance is no different whether professional performers are entertaining an audience or members of the public are entertaining themselves using facilities that have been provided for that purpose. In the latter case, the potential for noise nuisance and disturbance to neighbours may be even greater.
I resist the amendments. Some hon. Members believe that noise nuisance legislation is enough to control such problems, but the Government disagree. Legislation that controls noise is reactive and it would usually take a neighbour some time to obtain
satisfaction—if, indeed, he could obtain it. Licensing allows pro-active action to ensure that problems do not arise in the first place, especially in densely residential areas.
Under current legislation, there is a package whereby conditions imposed under the licensing regime, whether they relate to alcohol, entertainment or late-night refreshment houses or cafes, complement health and safety and environmental protection controls.