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 cannot give the hon. Gentleman a specific date, but I assure him that it will be as early as possible. Yesterday afternoon's meeting with the working group on children's interests was very
productive. I shall try to get him some information shortly.
An hon. Member asked for examples of premises to which it is reasonable to expect children to have access, such as cafes, restaurants, certain pubs and some hotels. A wedding between two 16 or 17-year-olds could pose the problem of newlyweds being barred from their own wedding reception. Cinemas and theatres are also important.
The hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey) spoke about children and operating schedules. If a licensee does not wish to admit unsupervised children, he or she will not have to say anything about the steps that they would take to promote the protection of children from harm. All that they will need to say in the operating schedule is that they do not propose to admit children. It is as simple as that. We have had a fair discussion on the matter, so I hope that the Committee will accept the Government amendments.