Clause 66 - Miners' welfare institutes
Licensing Bill [Lords]
3:45 pm
Mr Mark Hoban (Fareham, Conservative)
I am uniquely qualified among those on this side of the Committee to raise the issue of miners' welfare institutes because I am probably the only hon. Member, at least among Conservatives, who is the son of a former miner.
I wonder whether the provision has just been lifted wholesale from the 1964 Act, without taking advantage of the opportunity to update some of the wording to reflect the current state of mining communities. It is interesting that subsection (5)(c)(i) refers to committees or boards consisting
''partly of persons employed, or formerly employed, in or about coal mines'',
whereas subsection (3) defines a miners' welfare institute as
''an association organised for the social well-being and recreation of persons employed in or about coal mines''.
That begs the question of why those who were formerly employed are on the committee, but I do not think that that line of questioning will be profitable or fruitful at this point.
I wonder why the Government did not take advantage of the legislation to broaden the definition of those who could be members of miners' welfare institutes by referring to those who were formerly employed, as well as those who are currently employed, thereby reflecting that in many coal-mining areas where such institutes are located there are few, if any, people who are employed in the mining industry.