Mr Laurence Robertson (Shadow Minister, Economic Affairs; Tewkesbury, Conservative)

I beg to move amendment No. 36, in clause 51, page 42, line 43, at end add—

'(9) The OFT shall maintain a record of all visits to premises carried out by virtue of the relevant sections of this Act, and those records shall be made available to the appeal authorities set up by this Act.'.

This relates to records of visits to premises. It is desirable for the OFT to maintain a record of all visits to premises carried out by virtue of the relevant proposed new sections to be included in the 1974 Act. That would include voluntary visits to premises—when the OFT does not have a warrant—or visits when it has a warrant. It would make those records   available to the appeal authorities that the Bill will set up.

This is not an assault on the OFT; it might actually help the OFT in certain deliberations. I do not intend to speak to the amendment for long. I request only that the Minister consider whether it might be helpful.

Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)

The hon. Gentleman will not be surprised to hear that I agree that the OFT should maintain records of monitoring visits. I reassure him that that will happen even without his amendment. Every monitoring visit that is undertaken by the OFT, or by officers acting on its behalf, will be recorded in writing. That is essential if the evidence gained is to be used to monitor fitness. Without the written record the visits are useless. Any records that relate to licensing decisions will be made available to the appeals tribunal, should the need arise. Those will include records of the monitoring visits. I hope that I have assured the hon. Gentleman that his amendment is not necessary and that I can persuade him to withdraw it. The written record will be used at the tribunal.

Mr Laurence Robertson (Shadow Minister, Economic Affairs; Tewkesbury, Conservative)

I am delighted to hear that. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Clause 51 ordered to stand part of the Bill.