Clause 14 - Authorised persons, interested parties and responsible authorities
Licensing Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Dr Kim Howells (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Pontypridd, Labour)
I was about to sum up. I shall be brief, as I know that the hon. Member for North-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Moss) wants to get to other business on the agenda. I apologise to the Committee for not making available the guidance that several hon. Members have requested. I assure them that it will be issued soon, as the latest meeting of the working group on children's interests took place yesterday afternoon. We are working hard on such matters.
The hon. Gentleman asked why the Bill is silent about the access of children to premises. In the first instance, the applicant for a licence will have to decide whether he wishes to allow children on to the premises. That will be shown in his application. The application will then be notified to the responsible authorities, and the experts—which, if our amendment is accepted, will include child protection agencies and the police—will make representations. The licensing authority has a statutory obligation to have regard to the guidance, and it must provide written reasons for departing from it that can be challenged.