Schedule 1 - Provision of regulated entertainment
Licensing Bill [Lords]
8:55 am
Dr Kim Howells (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Pontypridd, Labour)
Thank you for that guidance, Mr. Gale. I shall bear it in mind.
Amendment No. 5 relates to paragraph 14 in part 2 of the schedule. I am sure that the Committee has sympathy with those who proposed the exemption—I certainly do—and with the focus of their argument in another place, which was to ensure that our schools do not have to be burdened with the administrative requirements of the Bill and, more important, with the associated costs. However, I see problems with the scope of the exemption and with some points of principle.
I shall deal first with the scope. The amendment uses the expression ''educational establishment'' without offering a more detailed definition. The term ''educational institution'' is more commonly found in statute. It is used in the Bill and is defined in clause 17(3). It means
''(a) a school, or an institution within the further or higher education sector, within the meaning of . . . the Education Act 1996 . . . or
(b) a college . . . school, hall or other institution of a university, in circumstances where the university receives financial support under section 65 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992''.
That gives us a better understanding of what would be exempted by paragraph 14. It would not be simply school plays and concerts and similar activities. The exemption would encompass a range of entertainments, such as dances, raves, rock concerts and major festivals held by universities, colleges and places of further education for their students and others. It can also be argued that it covers student unions.
These days student unions run and control nightclubs that are serious and major businesses. Their premises give rise to as many anxieties about alcohol consumption, disorder, noise nuisance and drugs as any similar commercial venture in our town and city centres. Indeed, they often are in our town and city centres. In my constituency the university is very close to the centre. It would be reckless in the extreme to exempt such premises from the Bill. For that reason we cannot allow the exemption to stand.