[Mr. Roger Gale in the Chair]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Standing Committee on the Licensing Bill. I have a couple of housekeeping announcements to make. While I am in the Chair, hon. Members may remove their jackets if they wish to do so. I cannot speak for Mr. Benton. Members of the Committee will have to wait to hear what he says on the subject. Having wiled away the winter on the Communications Bill with the Minister and one or two others who are present today, we now seem set fair to see out the spring with this Bill. All being well, however, we shall be out of Committee to see some of the summer. That brings us neatly to the programme resolution.

I beg to move,

That—

(1) during proceedings on the Licensing Bill [Lords] the Standing Committee do meet when the House is sitting on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8.55 am and at 2.30 pm, except that on Thursday 3rd April the Committee shall not meet at 2.30 pm and on Thursday 1st May the Committee shall not meet;

(2) 18 sittings in all shall be allotted to the consideration of the Bill by the Committee;

(3) the proceedings shall be taken in the following order, namely Clause 1, Schedules 1 and 2, Clauses 2 to 5, Clause 179, Clauses 6 to 9, Schedule 3, Clauses 10 to 111, Schedule 4, Clauses 112 to 178, Schedule 5, Clauses 180 to 198, Schedules 6 to 8, New Clauses, New Schedules and remaining proceedings on the Bill;

(4) the proceedings on Clause 1, Schedules 1 and 2, Clauses 2 to 5 and Clause 179 shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 11.25 am on Thursday 3rd April;

(5) the proceedings on Clauses 6 to 9, Schedule 3 and Clauses 10 to 46 shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 5 pm on Thursday 10th April;

(6) the proceedings on Clauses 47 to 59 shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 11.25 am on Tuesday 29th April;

(7) the proceedings on Clauses 60 to 95 shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 11.25 am on Tuesday 6th May;

(8) the proceedings on Clauses 96 to 111, Schedule 4 and Clauses 112 to 142 shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 11.25 am on Tuesday 13th May;

(9) the proceedings on Clauses 143 to 174 shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 11.25 am on Thursday 15th May;

(10) the proceedings on Clauses 175 to 178, Schedule 5, Clauses 180 to 198, Schedules 6 to 8, New Clauses, New Schedules and remaining proceedings on the Bill shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 11.25 am on Tuesday 20th May.

It gives me great pleasure, Mr. Gale, to serve on another Committee under your chairmanship. You are a fine Chairman. I am not sure that all members of the Committee will necessarily have such affectionate memories as I do of the way in which you handled

the problem amendments to the Communications Bill, but as you said those proceedings got us through the winter months.

The Bill will greatly modernise the alcohol-licensing regime in this country. It is a balanced package of freedoms and safeguards. It clamps down on crime and disorder and antisocial behaviour that is perpetrated by the minority, while giving the responsible majority of people more freedom and choice of how they spend their leisure time.

I wish to match the effusiveness of the Minister. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Gale, again—if that is the operative word in such circumstances.

We agree with the Minister that the Bill is as important a piece of legislation as any before Parliament. It will affect every aspect of society's cultural, social and leisure activities. It is a far-reaching and wide-ranging Bill. The Minister is greatly respected as someone who always aims to create good, practical and beneficial law. I am sure that we will not be disappointed by his responses during our debates.

I am not criticising the draftsmen of the Bill or the civil servants at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport who have spent many months, if not years, on its gestation. It has been a massive task. Unlike the Communications Bill, however, this Bill has not received pre-legislative scrutiny. Despite such scrutiny, that Bill still had a fairly bumpy passage in Committee.

There are considerable differences between the White Paper and the final product. The Bill is complex and we shall make every effort to ensure that, when it is on the statute book, it is workable and practical and will enhance the lives of members of the community, but not over-regulate those activities that should be beyond regulation.

In our opinion, the programme resolution needs to be more flexible. We have no criticism of the end date and we are happy to work with it, but we should discuss the guillotines. We have only three sittings—that is, until lunchtime on Thursday—to discuss some critical elements of the Bill. Those include schedule 1, which deals with entertainment and is highly contentious, the licensing authorities and the debate on magistrates versus local authorities, which is at the core of the Bill. There is also the matter of the central licensing authority and the general duties of licensing authorities. Those are dealt with in critical clauses and we are expected to debate and scrutinise them in three two-and-a-half-hour sittings.

We have no criticism of the total time allotted, but I put it to the usual channels that Opposition Members do not think that enough time is allotted to the earlier critical clauses and schedules. We hope that there will be a rethink, if we have not done justice to many of the clauses by Thursday lunchtime.

Question put and agreed to.

I remind the Committee that there is a financial resolution in connection with the Bill and

copies of it are available in the Room. I also remind hon. Members that adequate notice should be given of amendments. As a general rule, Mr. Benton and I do not intend to call starred amendments, including any that may be reached during an afternoon sitting.