Policing and Crime Bill

I think that the distinction is not the one made by the noble Viscount—between a fully-clothed dancer and a naked dancer—but I start by assuring the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, that a theatrical performance, such as a play, or a show which is not centrally designed to provide a kind of sex encounter experience as such, but has nudity, dancing and so forth within it, is not meant to be covered, nor is it covered, by the provisions we are discussing today. The purpose of this would be to demonstrate, for example, that the Shaftesbury Avenue show that the noble Baroness referred to was not designed and put on specifically for the purpose of sexual stimulation. The nudity, or whatever, was part of a more general theatrical endeavour which was not for the purpose of sexual stimulation and therefore would fall outwith these provisions. The amendment would mean that, in order for entertainment to be considered "relevant entertainment", it would have to be a live performance and a live display of nudity. The present wording of Clause 20 provides that it can be either a live performance or a live display of nudity. The amendment, as has been explained, seeks to ensure that it can be considered as such only if the entertainment is provided by an entertainer who is nude. That represents a significant narrowing of the current definition and would allow lap-dance operators to avoid the tight controls provided by Clause 26 simply by ensuring that performers were partially clothed in such a way that they would not come within the definition of nudity—lap dancers in socks spring to mind. This is different from fully-clothed dancers, although fully-clothed dancers could, in themselves, be sexually stimulating. I take the point of the noble Earl, Lord Ferrers, that in that sense, there is an element of the stimulation which has to be in the mind of the person observing the performance. Of course, many lap dancers are clothed to some degree—maybe not extensively, but it would be nonsense to suggest that nudity would be sexually stimulating and therefore disbarred and someone scantily clad performing the same kind of activity—pole dancing or lap dancing—would not. We therefore think that the amendment as proposed would create a significant loophole and prevent the reforms we are proposing from properly addressing the concerns of the local communities. The existing definition of "relevant entertainment" recognises that the prevailing factor which should dictate whether premises are sex encounter venues should be the nature of the entertainment provided and not solely whether the performers are nude. It is the performance, not the nudity, which determines whether it is a sex encounter venue. It would be strange to many people if we concluded that a lap-dancing club offering nude entertainment was a lap-dancing venue but the same club offering entertainment of the same nature, but with very scantily clad performers, was not. We are confident that the existing definition of "relevant entertainment" is correct and will target those forms of entertainment that are of concern to local communities. I trust that I have been able to persuade the noble Baroness and the noble Viscount that the definition goes wider than just whether or not performers are nude and goes to the essential nature of the entertainment being provided, that being the key. I hope, therefore, that the noble Viscount will find it possible to withdraw the amendment.