Legislative Reform (Minor Variations to Premises Licences and Club Premises Certificates) Order 2009

My Lords, I am sure that the Minister will be only too well aware of the interest taken on these benches in the future of live music. Consistently, my noble friend Lord Redesdale, who I am delighted to see here today, during the passage of the Licensing Act 2003, and subsequently myself, have argued that ensuring the ability of musicians to play music live in small venues, untrammelled by too much red tape at best and the full weight of the criminal law at worst, is vital. At the time of its passage, Ministers were confident of the likely impact of the Act. The noble Lord, Lord McIntosh of Haringey, the then DCMS spokesperson in the House of Lords, told this House on 26 November 2002: ""My view is that there will be an explosion of live music as a result of removing the discriminatory two-in-a-bar provision".—[Official Report, 26/11/02; col. 736.]" On 3 July 2003, the noble Lord said in this House: ""I would be astonished if there were not a significant increase in the proportion of pubs putting on live music as a result of this Bill".—[Official Report, 03/06/03; col. 1061.]" However, the Licensing Act has not delivered an increase in live music, despite these promises. Back in 2007, the Live Music Forum, which had been set up in 2004 by the then Minister, now the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley, to advise on the impact of the Licensing Act on live music, published a report that confirmed that neither an explosion nor even a significant increase had taken place, and that there were numerous occasions on which local authorities had adopted widely varying interpretations of the key elements of the Act. It turned out that the complexity of the process involved and the impenetrability of the wording of Section 177 of the Act—which was held up during the passage of the then Licensing Bill as a great concession for live music in small pub and restaurant venues—had led to the forum being unable to find a single example where Section 177 was used by licensing officers or venue owners. So the forum recommended new exemptions for small gigs as a matter of some urgency. The Live Music Forum’s report was followed by a BRMB survey commissioned by the DCMS. This confirmed that live music in smaller venues had shrunk by 5 per cent overall. In restaurants and cafes, the figure was a drop of 12 per cent; and in church halls and community centres it was 24 per cent. As a result, the then Secretary of State, James Purnell, pledged to explore exemptions for some venues. I was struck by what the noble Lord, Lord Colwyn, said in a recent debate in the House, which backs that up: ""This restrictive legislation has had serious implications for jazz. It has removed hundreds of venues where young musicians can perform and learn to play to an audience".—[Official Report, 4/6/09; col. 316.]" In 2007, 2008 and 2009, the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham, on several occasions—notably in the debate on the guidance under the Act in October 2007 and in reply to subsequent Written Questions—has given categorical assurances that amendments to the Act, designed to exempt low-impact or de minimis licensable activities, including live music, were being considered. Discussions with interested parties were happening and formal consultations would take place. Last May, the noble Lord, Lord Davies, said that consultations would take place "by the summer". Last July, he said that they would take place, "by the autumn". Disappointingly, despite the passage of time, nothing at all has emerged. Indeed, the DCMS appears to be back-tracking. In the latest reply to a Written Question, the DCMS, ""continues to consider how best to encourage live music".—[Official Report, 20/4/09; col. WA351.]" "We shall consult," they say, but there is no longer any timing promised at all. Most recently, however, and encouragingly, the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee report into the Licensing Act has accepted the case that something needs to be done to encourage more live music in smaller venues. It describes the licensing laws as absurd in this respect. It recommends, first, the exemption of small venues with a capacity of 200 people or fewer and, secondly, the reintroduction of the two-in-a-bar rule for non-amplified music. As the chairman, Sir John Whittingdale, rightly said, ""Young musicians often get their first break through performing live at small venues"." The purpose of today’s amendment to the Motion is, yet again, to attempt to flush out the Minister’s and the DCMS’s intentions. Is there any settled view within the DCMS as to what amendments are desirable and possible? With whom has it had discussions beyond the MU, UK Music and the LGA? Will the consultation paper be forthcoming and the consultation be started? If so, when? There is no doubt that today’s minor variations order is inadequate and will not deliver what we on these Benches, the Select Committee and UK Music want to see. Minor variations to an existing licence are no substitute for a new small-venues exemption under the Act. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport itself, in its evidence to the Regulatory Reform Committee included in the committee’s second report, has warned that many live music applications would not qualify as a minor variation. Licensing experts have already criticised the amendment as being of limited value. The DCMS said: ""In many cases the extension of music and dancing beyond 11pm, or the addition of the playing of music to a licence, will not fall within the definition of a minor variation"." In fact, the minor variations procedure has become considerably more complicated as a result of the Regulatory Reform Committee’s own views on the previous draft order, published last December. As a result, the DCMS laid a revised order. Key changes have been made: first, to require applicants to advertise proposed minor variations on a white notice outside the premises for 10 working days; secondly, to give local residents and businesses the right to make representations in writing to the local authority; and, thirdly, to require the local authority to consider any such representations received within the 10-day period in arriving at its decision. The Licensing Advisory Group has expressed disappointment as reported in the Explanatory Memorandum to the order in the following terms: ""All members were disappointed that the original proposal had been diluted and felt that this would render the process less attractive to applicants with a consequent reduction in take up by licensees and therefore in cost savings"." The order has been criticised more heavily by expert commentators. This from a leading licensing lawyer: ""It is likely that the current ‘minor variations procedure’ adopted by many licensing authorities, simply because the Government hadn’t proposed one, will now become a thing of the past. It is therefore arguable that the new procedure will make the licensing process even more cumbersome than it was before"." Another expert writing in the Morning Advertiser in April this year said: ""What started off as a helpful gesture by the Department for Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) to overcome the elaborate procedure for varying a licence has turned into a pedantic nightmare … We had a simple form of minor variations procedure under the old law, with the licensing justices giving instant decisions, and it worked pretty well. Residents were not prejudiced, but it gave operators the opportunity to alter their premises, usually for the better"." In any event, the order will not benefit the thousands of events in venues that are not already licensed under the Act. The Government have brought forward this mouse of a regulation when they should by now have been consulting energetically on a new exemption for live music in small venues as they promised. The absurdities of the Act generally in respect of live music are manifest. The interpretation of the Licensing Act varies widely from local authority to local authority, with some taking a lenient view of incidental music and others a much more restrictive approach. The guidance, as I foresaw in 2007, definitely needs changing to ensure consistency. We even have the ridiculous situation where the former Secretary of State Andy Burnham—I have talked about a lot former Secretaries of State—recently went to the Knotty Ash Youth & Community Centre to hear performances of live music on the centre’s launch as a rehearsal and performance venue. All well and good but it had no licence: the performances were illegal. I have no doubt that there are some very competent Liverpool City Council officers and DCMS officials, but if they cannot get it right who can? I have even more recent examples of the anomalies of the Licensing Act in its treatment of live music. From 23 June under the Play Me, I’m Yours scheme, 30 pianos will be delivered to the streets of London as part of Sing London and the City of London Festival 2009. Located on streets, in public squares and parks, train stations, and street markets, the pianos are there for any member of the public to play. The pianos will be in place until 13 July, after which time they will be donated to local schools and community groups. The initiative, backed by Mayor Boris Johnson, has been widely praised in the national press. However, it turns out that the provision of pianos in this way is caught by the Licensing Act as provision of an "entertainment facility". Without a licence obtained from the local authority, the organisers would be committing a potential criminal offence. It has been a bureaucratic minefield, with every venue and street space that is not already licensed having to be covered either by a new premises licence or a temporary event notice. I could come up with myriad more exemptions. Ministers call the new licensing legislation a licensing regime for the 21st century. However, where live music is concerned they actually turned the licensing clock back more than 100 years. A case in 1899 established that a pub landlord could let customers use a piano on his premises without an entertainment licence. Today, such a landlord could face criminal prosecution where the maximum penalty is a £20,000 fine and six months in prison. Contrast that with the freedom to show large screen broadcasts of football matches without a licence under this legislation, because the Government granted that form of entertainment an explicit exemption. What kind of cultural bias does that show? Finally, the CMS Committee was rightly very exercised, as many of us are, by the introduction of what is called form 696 by the police. This forces all promoters to provide personal details of artists: names and dates of birth, the music they are playing and their target audience 14 days before an event. Failure to do so has led to the cancellation of performances. This is totally unreasonable, and at variance with the intentions of the Act. When asked, the Government were wholly unable to produce evidence that live music generally is linked to disorder. I urge the Government to use this opportunity to state clearly what their intentions are regarding the licensing of live music and to give concrete assurances about their intentions towards amendment of the Act. I beg to move.