Clause 14 - Procedure for designation of zones
Violent Crime Reduction Bill
1:45 pm
James Clappison (Hertsmere, Conservative)
Amendment No. 144 caught my eye. I asked the Minister in a brief intervention how the Government proposed to judge the success or otherwise of the various measures relating to alcohol disorder zones. The amendment, which the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green described as a sunset clause, as it automatically brings the alcohol disorder zone to an end after 12 months, returns me to that line of thinking.
It is all very well for us to pass all this legislation to create all these orders, new instruments, and new charges on businesses but, at the end of the day, we want to know whether they are a success. The Minister needs to tell us more about how the Government propose to judge whether they are a success, and what she expects to come about as a result of them. She will take on board the point made by the hon. Lady that we do not want the legislation to be just another mechanism whereby charges are levied on businesses, but no real difference is made and there is no improvement in the amount of alcohol-generated disorder in our great cities, particularly in our great provincial cities, late at night at weekends. We need the Government to tell us how they will judge whether the legislation is a success, because that is what we want on behalf of our constituents. We want this problem to be tackled; we do not want legislation that does not contribute to solving the problem.