Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, Amendments 60 and 66 would remove Clause 33 and Schedule 4, which contain provisions about the mandatory code. I recognise that large numbers of retailers sell alcohol responsibly, but there are still too many irresponsible practices and promotions in operation, which simply should not happen anywhere and need to be tackled at a national level. Earlier this year, as was mentioned by a previous speaker, we consulted on which activities should be tackled or required at a national level. We have received more than 7,000 responses and the initial findings suggest that the majority of respondents consider that these types of practices need tackling at a national level. There is also strength of feeling that the mandatory conditions need to go further than just banning irresponsible promotions, which is what Amendment 60 would limit the Bill to, and put in place national conditions that promote best practice, responsible trading and consumer choice. I will not go into detail here on what all these might be, but they are set out in our consultation. Our consultation events also highlight the concerns about local conditions, to which we have listened and responded, by tabling Amendments 61, 63 and 65, to which I spoke earlier. There is a clear need to take action at national level, which is supported by our consultation findings. For that reason, I would ask the noble Lord not to press his amendments. Amendment 62 would allow responsible authorities and interested parties to make representations to request a licensing review if a licensed premise is persistently selling alcohol below cost. It would then also allow the licensing authority to take action against that premises, such as modifying the licence, adding conditions or even suspending or revoking the licence. This summer, we sought views on banning below-cost selling in our public consultation on the code of practice, but it would be wrong to take any action on the issue until we have fully considered the responses and the impact that such a move would have on the majority of people in this country who drink alcohol responsibly. It would be quite unfair if responsible drinkers had to pay significantly more for their alcohol because of a small minority of people who drink irresponsibly. We are doing more research into this. We need to bolster the evidence base—the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, and the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, touched on this—about the impact of cheap alcohol on crime and disorder, particularly the night-time economy. That will also address so-called pre-loading. We also need to do further work on the economic impact of action on pricing, and we will use the new information to move forward, but a lot of work needs to be done and one cannot draw conclusions from some of the evidence. For those reasons, action should on pricing should not be taken in this Bill and I invite the noble Baroness not to press her amendment. On Amendment 64, I thank my noble friend Lord Rosser for making me aware of his concerns, which to an extent I share. However, there is no doubt that in deciding whether to grant exceptions, we need to strike the right balance between not imposing unnecessary burdens on premises and not inadvertently weakening the mandatory code by creating an easy way to circumvent it. I disagree with my noble friend when he says that the code will place a disproportionate burden on businesses. The Government have not yet taken a final decision on what will be in the code precisely because we are mindful of its impacts. It is therefore wrong to suggest that the code will be costly when its content has not even been finalised and we are still negotiating and talking about it. My noble friend says he does not believe that there is evidence of poor practice in the sale of alcohol in sports clubs. All I would say to him is that we have no evidence to suggest that all sports clubs are selling alcohol responsibly and are not causing problems. Indeed, within walking distance of my cottage in the country, there is a cricket club that does not even have a cricket square, but where one can get a drink pretty much all the time. I shall say no more than that. Given the importance of these issues, it would be inappropriate to grant any exemptions until we have had the opportunity fully to analyse all 7,000 responses, which is what we are doing at the moment. I also have concerns about placing exemptions in the Bill as suggested in this amendment. If the mandatory conditions are to be effective, the decision to exempt certain premises should be made on a condition-by-condition basis. If the list of mandatory conditions is changed or updated, it will not always be appropriate for the same type of premises to be exempt. On that basis, I ask my noble friend not to press his amendment, and I hope that the government amendments will be accepted. Amendment 59 agreed. Amendment 60 not moved. Amendment 61 Moved by