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I have recently been provided, by the good offices of the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, and his colleagues in another place, with 15 items of correspondence from family lawyers—and I guess this is the correspondence shared with the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood—giving examples of cases where they believe the 12-month rule may not have helped their clients. However, bearing in mind that some 20,000 consent orders are made each year, this is not a great body of evidence and we would need significantly fuller information before we overturn something that appears to be working well and in the best interests of children.
We want to encourage agreed, effective maintenance arrangements which provide ongoing support for children. As long as parents are happy that their arrangements are providing adequate maintenance for their children, they can continue. We consider that a 12-month period strikes the balance between giving court orders a chance to bed in and providing a means to resolve difficulties quickly and keep payments flowing. If things do go wrong, parents need the choice of a readily available route into the commission. My opinion is that a period of four years is too long to deprive parents of that choice. Parents and children should not be left, for considerable periods, locked into the court system when maintenance may or may not be paid or maintenance arrangements for children may no longer be adequate or working. Parents should have the ability to resolve these issues, gain access to the commission and get payments flowing quickly.
The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, outlined an interesting example of what had happened. First, he assured us that the parties entering into that agreement were well aware of the 12-month rule and what the commission’s arrangements would offer. I suppose the point is that if the non-resident parent wanted a lower level of maintenance to flow, it was always their right to enter the commission and get that from the calculation.
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The noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, asked about arrangements in Scotland and issues that are seemingly still unresolved there. I am unsighted on that. Rather than try and scramble through my notes, I will talk to officials and perhaps we should discuss that further. It is not an issue, as far as I am aware, that seems to be raging and a major problem. If it is, these things often show themselves, particularly with legislation entering its final stages. The 12-month rule gives time for agreements to bed in and allows swift intervention by the commission to keep maintenance flowing to children, and therefore puts parents with court orders on the same footing as any other separated parents. On that basis—although I am sure he will not be entirely happy—I hope the noble Lord will withdraw his amendment
Lord Skelmersdale:My Lords, I will certainly withdraw my amendment but I do have to say to the noble Lord that I reserve the right to come back to this issue at the next stage of the Bill. Despite his conciliatory words, I am still extremely disturbed by the evidence that has been put to me, although I accept that it is not a vast body of evidence as the noble Lord said. I ask that the Minister takes up the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, but, please, do not confine the investigation to Scotland. This Bill covers England as well and the Law Society in England is just as reputable a body as the Law Society in Scotland.
The noble Lord, in his objection to the case that I elucidated about the mother, left out a germane series of facts in his refutation of it. The reason the husband is no longer sticking to the agreement is, as I said, that the wife has now met someone else and the ex-husband fails to see why he should be contributing to the household pot. This would not happen under CMEC because he would be forced to continue to contribute to the pot.
Of course, it is optional whether the wife, or the former wife, goes to CMEC. Because of the horror stories that she has heard about the CSA, the length of time it takes to operate, its success rate and all the rest of it—which I accept, with the improvement plan, is indeed improving—CMEC should—
Lord McKenzie of Luton: My Lords, does not the point that the noble Lord has made illustrate why we need the 12-month rule? I thought he said that because of circumstances, relationships had changed and the non-resident parent had decided he did not want to contribute any more. If he had to wait four years for the PWC to get access to the commission, it seems to me a very disagreeable outcome. I did not pick up the points about the efficiency of the commission, which we could debate endlessly. They will improve, given what is in this Bill. That ability, when circumstances change, for one party or the other to be able to go to the commission seems to me vital. The noble Lord has just illustrated that point.
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Lord Skelmersdale: My Lords, the noble Lord pre-empted what I was about to say next with an argument of his own. There was a world before the CSA. In those days, the courts had the enforcement powers for the arrangements that they had sanctioned, originally—as they still are—made between lawyers working for both particular sides of this argument. There is no earthly reason why an inconvenienced parent should not go back to court for this operation, which I think is the answer to a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood. I will continue to ponder on the amendment and I reserve the right to come back to it at the next stage. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Lord McKenzie of Luton moved Amendments Nos. 52 to 54:
Schedule 7, page 78, line 11, after ““court”” insert “(except for the purposes of subsection (8)(c))”
“(2B) No statutory instrument containing (whether alone or with other provisions) regulations which by virtue of section 51A are to have effect for a limited period shall be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.””
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Lord McKenzie of Luton moved Amendment No. 55:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord McKenzie of Luton moved Amendments Nos. 55A to 57:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Local Authorities (Alcohol Disorder Zones) Regulations 2008
6.40 pm
Lord Bassam of Brighton rose to move, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 1 April be approved.
The noble Lord said: My Lords, in 2005-06, nearly one-fifth of all violent incidents were committed in or around pubs and clubs. Police and local authorities
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However, although a wide range of legal powers is available to the police and local authorities, it is not always possible to make a clear link between the crime and disorder happening in and around one or more licensed premises with the premises themselves. The alcohol-related crime and disorder in the public space may be the cumulative result of people drinking in a number of on-trade licensed premises or by purchasing alcohol in one or more off-licences when, for example, they are already intoxicated. In such cases, the provisions in the Licensing Act may be insufficient to ensure that these premises act in a collectively responsible manner. There will almost certainly be a need for additional enforcement activity. As such, as a measure of last resort, alcohol disorder zones have been designed to enable local authorities, in partnership with the police, to tackle high levels of alcohol-related crime and disorder within a defined zone by requiring licence holders in that zone to pay for additional police and local authority enforcement services. If licensed premises are part of the problem, we argue that it is only right that they should be part of the solution.
To be fair, I am not saying that all licensed premises are part of the problem—far from it. Many trade very responsibly: they do not sell to kids; they do not sell to drunks; they do not have silly promotions that are designed to get people so drunk that they do not know what day of the week it is; and they ensure that at closing time dispersal is managed in a calm and efficient way, and that glasses are properly tidied up so that they do not become lethal weapons.
However, we also know that this simply does not apply to all pubs, clubs, off-licences and supermarkets. Far too many sell to under-18s and to people who are already drunk. Far too many do not trade in a responsible way and, as a result of their “it’s not my problem” approach, they collectively make the spaces in some towns and cities unpleasant places to be in the evenings and at night.
We argue that, once all other options have been exhausted, alcohol disorder zones should be considered to ensure that licensed premises collectively behave in a responsible way. Critics of ADZs will say that they are unnecessarily bureaucratic, but they have been designed to ensure that licensed premises are given an opportunity to change before any charges are imposed on them.
To ask a fair question, how will they work in practice? There are three key stages to an alcohol disorder zone: proposing to designate an area as an ADZ; the action plan stage; and, finally, the designation and operation of a full ADZ. If, following the proposal stage, where a local authority consults on whether to have an ADZ in the first place, the local authority decides to move ahead, it will then publish a voluntary
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The action plan will involve the local authority, police and licence holders by setting out what is to be expected from each of them. For example, the police may agree temporarily to put on additional police during the early hours and licensed premises will be expected to sign up to an approved accreditation or award scheme, such as “Best Bar None”.
Under the action plan, the affected licensed premises will be given a chance to make the necessary changes and, if they do, there may be no need for the local authority to take any further action. However, in cases where there has been insufficient implementation of the voluntary action plan on the part of licensed premises, the local authority may designate that locality as an ADZ. Designation allows local authorities to levy compulsory charges on certain licence holders for above-normal levels of enforcement activity by that authority and the police, such as frequent visits by police officers or police community support officers to licensed premises or additional activity by trading standards officers.
I want to be absolutely clear that a local authority should consider designating a locality as an ADZ only after all other measures available to that authority, and to the police, to tackle high levels of alcohol-related nuisance or disorder have been tried and have failed to solve the problem. ADZs are not intended to be used like any other tool; they are very much a measure of last resort. In any event, the ADZ must be reviewed every three months to ensure that it is still required.
It is not known at this stage exactly how many ADZs will be designated in the first year. The regulatory impact assessment estimates that 30 areas will start the ADZ process in the first year, but it could be that all or none move towards full designation. This will depend entirely on the success and take-up of the voluntary action plan.
I now want to address some of the specific issues that have been raised in relation to ADZs. The first is the charging mechanism. The first step for the local authority in calculating charges that will apply to licensed premises is to work out the total cost of administering and enforcing an ADZ. This will be the total of the costs to the local authority of imposing, collecting and recovering charges, and reviewing the ADZ, plus the costs of additional policing and local authority services. Local authorities should aim to keep the costs of administering charges and reviewing ADZs as low as possible. We expect these costs to be recovered over the first three months of ADZ charges and for the level of charges to be reduced after this time.
Having worked out the total cost of administering and enforcing the ADZ, the second stage in calculating charges is to spread the total cost of an ADZ among individual licence holders, who are not exempt, in accordance with Regulation 16. This is done by local authorities using the national ADZ charging formula
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Some have asked whether supermarkets will be exempt from the charging mechanism. The short answer is no. If the availability of alcohol is one of the main reasons why people visit a supermarket during an ADZ service period, then it is right that it is liable to pay a charge.
Although earlier versions of the regulations allowed for a 100 per cent discount, we were advised that this was ultra vires, as the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 does not allow for an exemption and a 100 per cent discount amounts to an exemption. As such, it was thought necessary to amend the regulations. However, when calculating the charge for premises that are open only for a short amount of time during the ADZ periods, it is possible that they will receive a large reduction in their charge. If premises are open for a short amount of time during the hours in which the ADZ period is operating, its score for hours of opening during the service period will be low. If a local authority multiplies the premises’ rateable value score, whatever that may be, by this low score, the total score or charge to be paid will also be much lower than that of identical premises that are open throughout the ADZ service period. In this way, premises that are open only for a short time during the ADZ service period will pay a much lower charge.
To conclude, as I have said, the alcohol disorder zones represent a solution to the current problem of it not being possible to get collective change from a number of licensed premises in any given location. They are designed as a measure of last resort. Even then, it is to be hoped that licensed premises will avoid incurring compulsory charges by choosing to comply with the voluntary action plan. Where they do not, it is right that a tougher approach should be taken, and that those responsible for contributing to crime and disorder pay for the services of those who have to deal with it. I commend the regulations to the House. I beg to move.
Moved, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 1 April be approved. [8th and 18th Reports from the Merits Committee and 17th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments].—(Lord Bassam of Brighton.)
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer rose to move, as an amendment to the above Motion, at end to insert “but this House calls on Her Majesty’s Government to withdraw the regulations and to re-lay them having taken account of the opinion of the Select Committee on the Merits of Statutory Instruments that ‘the system
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The noble Baroness said: My Lords, this House, in its wisdom, established a Merits Committee to look at the merits of statutory instruments. The Minister will be aware of what the Merits Committee has said in the case of these regulations. It has found them wanting, even given that they have been laid previously and withdrawn, and that this is at least the second time that they have been laid. Does the Minister not think that, when the Merits Committee, with all the legal experience of the noble and learned Lords who sit on it—not least the experience of the chairman, the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, who has long experience, as I know the Minister has, of local government—says that the regulations are unduly bureaucratic, and possibly therefore unworkable, that the Government should withdraw the regulations and think again? It does the Government no good to bring in regulations that bring them into disrepute in this way.
Although I am going to address the substance of the regulations now, it is the comments of the Merits Committee that bear particular scrutiny. What is the point of your Lordships’ House having a Merits Committee? It has come up with the strong comment that the ADZ system will be unduly bureaucratic and be,
- “without a clear idea of how it fits with the other items in local authorities’ toolkit for combating alcohol-fuelled disorder”.
In other words, it is worse than useless. I do not know what the Merits Committee could say more strongly to make the Government rethink the regulations, which they have got wrong. I urge the Minister to exercise his ministerial discretion. I realise that civil servants have been asked to draw up the regulations and that it was in the Labour Party’s manifesto that this would be done. Having made an effort to draw them up, they still have not come up with the goods. The Minister needs to bear that in mind and have another go at them. That is what I am asking him to consider this evening.
Now I will address the substance of these regulations. We on these Benches would not dispute that there is a problem with alcohol-related disorder in town and city centres. Indeed, the British Crime Survey shows that alcohol was involved in 46 per cent of violent crime incidents. The Home Office’s own figures show increases in violent crime between 3 am and 6 am since the introduction of the Licensing Act. Hospital A&E admissions have doubled since 1997 and A&E admissions of those aged under 18 for alcohol-related conditions have increased by more than 2,000 in the past 10 years. I will not go on quoting figures; there are enough there to show that there is a significant problem. We are certainly not disputing that.
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