My postbag is remarkably silent about that. Scratching my head, I suspect that the answer is between nil and one, but I shall let the House know if that turns out to be wrong. My hon. Friend makes a fair point.
Mr. Tate was recently required to adhere to special conditions of the public entertainment licence that is now required at Swineshead village hall. Condition 3 said that by 31 March 2006, the village hall had to"““arrange for and maintain at least one Senior Member of staff””—"
Mr. Tate does not have any members of staff—"““to be the holder of the British Institute of InnKeeping Awarding Body’s . . . National Certificate for Entertainment Licensees.””"
That seems to be rather unnecessary, as Mr. Tate pointed out in his letter to the local authority.
Another special condition has caused even greater concern in Swineshead. Bedford borough council’s special condition 8 told the people of Swineshead:"““There shall be no provision of lap, pole, table or podium dancing or similar style dancing or striptease without prior written consent of the Service Manager (Registration and Administration). This Licence does not constitute such written consent.””"
Mr. Tate was proper enough to respond to the borough council. He wrote:"““Condition 8 seems wholly inappropriate for a small rural village hall, but since we should never wish to engage in the banned practices, we should not object to this condition.””"
I merely point out to the House the nonsense of such a condition even being suggested to a village hall, notwithstanding the fact that now that I have publicised it, I might be inundated with letters from the good people from Swineshead who perhaps do not agree with their chairman’s quick approach on such a condition.
I shall rest my case. Conservative Members have tried to suggest that elements of the Act are nonsense for village halls. Despite the humour that some objections have caused, the serious point is exactly that raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley. The people who run village halls are volunteers, so the burden of their paperwork will be onerous. The money taken out of village halls due to bureaucracy will be lost to communities.
People genuinely fear that damage will be caused. This is not scaremongering; it is real for those who have been campaigning on the matter for a long time. If the Minister and his colleagues can encourage Sir Les to conduct a rapid review of the circumstances and make some concessions for village halls, perhaps the Bill’s good aspects will not be swept away with concerns about the bad.
Licensing Act 2003
Proceeding contribution from
Alistair Burt
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 12 July 2005.
It occurred during Opposition day on Licensing Act 2003.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
436 c793 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2024-04-21 11:36:22 +0100
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