Live Music Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendments 14, 15, 16, 24, 33 and 37. In the Bill, as presently drafted, there is a problem with the interaction between proposed Section 177 and proposed paragraphs 12A and 12C of Schedule 1. Paragraph 12A applies only to premises which are licensed for the supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises and paragraph 12C engages Section 177 only where the premises are licensed to supply alcohol. Given that where paragraphs 12A or 12C apply a performance of live music is not a licensable activity, there would be no need, and perhaps no power, for conditions to be included on a licence relating to the provision of live music. On a review of a premises licence under Section 52, a licensing authority may, among other things, modify the conditions of a licence or exclude a licensable activity from the scope of the licence. However, the effect of the proposed Section 177(4) may be that, on a review, provision of live music becomes licensable, so effectively the licence would have to be amended to include a new licensable activity. A concern has been raised that Section 52 does not provide the necessary power to do that. There is also a conceptual difficulty with the proposition that whether or not an activity is licensable depends on the outcome of a review of the licence itself. These amendments, taken together, resolve these drafting difficulties. They preserve the intent of the Bill that there should be an exemption from licensing for small audiences but enable a licensing authority to impose new conditions relating to live music at a review of a licence or club premises certificate as if the music were licensed, or to re-activate conditions about live music which would not otherwise have effect as a result of Section 177A(2). Again, I apologise for the highly technical nature of that explanation. I beg to move. Amendment 13 agreed. Amendments 14 to 16 Moved by