HL Deb 24 June 1991 vol 530 cc464-7

The Paymaster General (Lord Belstead) rose to move that the order laid before the House on 15th May be approved.

The noble Lord said: My Lords, this order introduces amendments broadly in line with provisions already put into effect in Great Britain by the enactment of the Cinematograph (Amendment) Act 1982. The main purpose of the order is to extend the definition of film exhibition to ensure that exhibitions given by means of video equipment are subject to the cinema licensing arrangements provided by the Cinematograph Acts (Northern Ireland) 1909 and 1959.

As your Lordships will be aware, premises used for the exhibition of films require a licence from district councils. Articles 3 to 6 of the order deal with the control of exhibitions and make very little change to the present procedures other than to place them on an equal footing with the licensing of places used for public entertainment. Essentially, the councils, acting as licensing authorities, have a number of important roles to perform. Under Article 5 they have a duty to ensure that appropriate fire and safety regulations are enforced in licensed premises and Article 4 gives them power to prohibit the admission of children to film exhibitions which they regard as unsuitable for children. They also have the power to attach whatever conditions they think fit to a licence and the type of films shown to the public, their decision being subject to appeal to the courts.

The 1959 Act provides for exemptions from the requirement to have a licence for film exhibitions to which the public are not admitted or are admitted without payment. That exemption was intended to apply to non-commercial exhibitions organised by private film societies and charitable, educational, church, political and sporting organisations which might wish to show films from time to time as part of their normal programme of activities. As your Lordships will be only too well aware, experience in Great Britain has shown that that exemption provision was exploited by cinemas operating a club system in order to show pornographic films and to escape the limitations and obligations which a licence would place on them. While it is true to say that Northern Ireland has not experienced problems in that respect on anything like the scale of London, the order will nevertheless provide councils in Northern Ireland with additional powers of control over such clubs and the conditions in which films are exhibited should a problem arise at some future stage.

Articles 7 to 10 deal with exemptions and introduce a "promoted for private gain" test which qualifies the exemptions whereby it will no longer be possible to claim an exemption by virtue of the fact that the public is not admitted to an exhibition. The new test will ensure that the licensing provisions apply to film and video exhibitions given by commercial cinema clubs whose primary object is to make money out of the exhibition.

The move towards a more stringent licensing requirement is designed to ensure that the exemptions which Parliament originally intended when introducing the 1959 Act will continue. Bona fide film societies which are not run for profit and from which the general public are excluded, exhibitions for which there is no payment for admission and other non-profit making organisations that hold an exemption certificate issued by the department will be able to give film shows for which they make charges so long as the proceeds are devoted to the wider objects and purposes of those organisations. Those exemptions are covered by Articles 7 to 10.

Article 11, which deals with exhibitions on Sundays, introduces a new provision for Northern Ireland which regularises the use of premises on Sundays for film exhibitions. It also affords special protection to those engaged in film exhibitions who are required to work on Sundays.

Articles 12 to 15 deal with the enforcement provisions of the order, the significant feature of which will be the increase from £200 to £20,000 in the penalty on conviction for promoting unlicensed exhibitions. A further important new provision is added whereby a court will have power to seize the equipment used in the offence. As with the law in Great Britain, opportunity has also been taken to extend existing powers of entry to officers of the fire authority to enter and inspect licensed premises in order to check that there are adequate fire precautions and to see whether the relevant provisions relating to fire precautions are being complied with.

Article 16 deals with appeals. As in other fields of licensing, it is customary to grant a right of appeal against a decision of a licensing authority. The appeals provisions contained in the 1959 Act are re-enacted and extended to allow for the automatic extension of a licence pending the outcome of an appeal. The remaining Articles 17 to 19 define the meaning of promotion for private gain and give effect to the provisions of Schedules 1, 2 and 3 which respectively set out minor and consequential amendments and repeals. I beg to move.

Moved, That the order laid before the House on 15th May be approved.—(Lord Belstead.)

Lord Prys-Davies

My Lords, we welcome the order. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Belstead, for having explained its provisions so clearly. I intend to raise only three points, which I have already mentioned to the Minister.

By virtue of Article 5(3), the district council, in deciding whether or not to grant, renew or transfer a licence, shall have regard to the observations submitted by the fire authority and by the sub-divisional commander of police. We have no doubt that their observations will be given proper consideration. However, if a district council fails to do so, will the fire service or the police have any right of appeal to the county court against the council's decision apart from judicial review, which I assume would apply?

My second question relates to the safety regulations which the Minister described. Those regulations will be made by the department and relate to film exhibitions and the health and welfare of children attending cinemas. One would be interested to learn who in practice will monitor the application of the regulations. Will it be left to the police and the fire authority under Article 15?

My final point is also a short one. The licence having been granted, one asks oneself what will be the position if the licence holder dies during the currency of the licence. In particular, will the personal representative of the licence holder have to apply for a temporary protection order? With those few questions, on behalf of these Benches I support the order.

Lord Lyell

My Lords, before my noble friend replies I should like to raise a point relating to Article 11 and exhibitions on Sundays. My noble friend raised the question of exhibitions on Sundays, particularly in relation to the employment of persons working in the cinemas. I hope that the Sunday Observance Act 1695 does not impose tighter restrictions in Northern Ireland than would apply in Great Britain. I was pleased that my noble friend pointed out that the regulations regularised the position in Northern Ireland where cinemas are a particularly popular form of entertainment.

Lord Belstead

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Prys-Davies, and to my noble friend Lord Lyell for responding to the order. I am also grateful to the noble Lord for warning me of the three questions that he wished to raise.

On the noble Lord's first point, the order does not provide any right of appeal for the fire authority or the police. However, I can assure him that not only has it been the tradition over the years in Northern Ireland for district councils to pay due regard to the observations of both the police and the fire authority, but Article 5(3) of the order lays a duty on district councils to have regard to the observations of the police and the fire authority. As the noble Lord said, there is always lurking in the background the possibility of judicial review, on which I do not wish to comment. However, it is important for me to underline that there is a duty to have regard, although there is no right of appeal.

Secondly, the noble Lord asked me who would be responsible for monitoring. It is not the police and the fire authority under Article 15, although, like the noble Lord, that was rather my conclusion until I took advice. Regulations made under Article 6 will make the district councils the monitors in their role as the licensing authorities. In practice that will mean the environmental health officers, except, I understand, in Belfast, where the council has its own licensing section which will do the monitoring for Belfast.

Thirdly, the noble Lord asked me about the transfer of the licence in the event of the holder dying. In those circumstances the personal representative of the deceased licence holder could apply to the district council for the transfer of the licence. Such a licence would continue in force until such time as the application for transfer was determined and thereafter, unless revoked, until the original date of expiry of the licence.

I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Lyell for welcoming the provision in Article 11 on Sunday opening for the showing of films. I used the word "regularises" in my speech because cinemas have, de facto, opened and that puts the matter on a regularised basis. My noble friend will not be entirely surprised to hear that the 1695 Act has fallen into disuse in relation to Sunday opening of cinemas in Northern Ireland. Under the order it will be possible in law for premises to open on Sundays for the exhibition of films.

There was wide consultation on the order. Some 65 organisations were consulted and it is important that I record that there was no objection to Sunday opening from any of the consultees. With those few replies, I commend the order to the House.

On Question, Motion agreed to.