Clause 55 - Fees

Part of Licensing Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:45 am on 29 April 2003.

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Photo of Adrian Sanders Adrian Sanders Liberal Democrat, Torbay 10:45, 29 April 2003

The amendments are helpful; they are clearly intended to seek transparency in fee making and to get some definition of what is intended, which I hope the Minister will be able to give us.

The Minister gave me an assurance on fees at an earlier meeting, which was vitally important. The track record of some local authorities on fee setting is not good, certainly not in relation to public entertainment licences, which currently come under their remit. One local authority I know of has raised public entertainment fees from £200 to £2,000. Neither sum reflects the cost of granting licences. It is difficult for the Government to find a formula that enables local authorities to set a fee that matches their costs and there will need to be a great deal of consultation with local government to come up with the right levels of fees.

Amendment No. 229, which lists the premises to which nil fees will apply, is important, although the Government have already suggested that they want to exempt such properties. I am sure that we can all point to local examples of buildings such as community halls that have no other activities and are having problems keeping going. The requirement to pay a fee may well be what closes them. Then, there are other community halls—I know of one in my constituency—that have a bar and generate a great deal of income. Although the bar is only a part of the community centre, activities that take place in other parts of that centre may be directly related to the commercial activities of the bar. Distinguishing between the two will be difficult, and I imagine that it will be left up to officers of local authorities to determine which parts of the premises should have a fee attached.

Clubs, which the hon. Member for North-East Cambridgeshire mentioned, involve another set of complications. There are many small sports enterprises in my constituency; there are more bowling clubs than we can shake a stick at. Many of those clubs have bars and activities and some of those activities are held on behalf of other organisations. Sports clubs are good at holding charitable activities for other organisations. They have coffee mornings or wine and cheese evenings that generate profit for charity and not necessarily for the clubs.

It is crucial that we set the right climate of fees, to respect the variety of activities held in the clubs. It would be a tragedy if the Bill caused problems for such clubs and societies and if it meant that they had to disengage from some of their philanthropic activities, or if the imposition of fees affected the viability of

their activities. This is an important group of amendments that I hope will bring about transparency, so that it is obvious where fees are being directed. I hope that the amendments will also provide some definition as to what types of premises and activities we are talking about.

Mr. Field rose—