Hotels and Guest-houses: Grading Scheme (Hansard, 14 April 1999)

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, raising the quality of all serviced accommodation in England is a high priority, as Tomorrow's Tourism made clear. Inspections by the English Tourist Board, the AA and the RAC under the new harmonised accommodation rating schemes began in January 1998. When the schemes are launched to consumers in September of this year we think that they will welcome the greater emphasis on quality and find the combined rating of facilities and quality much easier to understand.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, in thanking my noble friend for that helpful reply, I declare an interest as vice-president of the Northumbria Tourist Board and vice-chairman of the All-Party Tourism Group. Can my noble friend tell the House what is being done to define the standards to which he referred? For example, what consultations are being held on the proposed standards? Will the scheme be a statutory one? Further, does my noble friend agree that such a scheme is long overdue and that all other tourist countries have had such a scheme in operation for a long time?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, the standards themselves are enormously complicated. Although I shall not read them out, there are 51 pages of standards for hotels and a further 26 pages of quality standards for guest-houses. These have been agreed after detailed consultation and are being used by the 769 inspectors of the English Tourist Board, the AA and the RAC. There is no present intention to make it a statutory scheme but we would not rule that out if it became necessary. However, the reception of the inspection process that has been going on for more than a year has been very good indeed. I agree with my noble friend's last point that this is long overdue.

§ Lord Inglewood
My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is unfortunate that there is not a single harmonised scheme operated by all the tourist boards across the United Kingdom? Does he agree that that would be very advantageous to the industry as a whole, bearing in mind that the divisions between the home countries are not easily recognised by those beyond our shores?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, I agree entirely with the noble Lord. We would have wished to reach agreement with the tourist boards of all three countries. However, the harmonised scheme that is available in England through the AA, RAC and the English Tourist Board is available in Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland under the auspices of the AA and the RAC. Therefore, although it may not be as simple as it should be tourists can have access to the same standards everywhere.

§ Lord Strabolgi
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that a very successful grading scheme has been operated in France for many years and it is probably easier to understand than all of the various descriptions promised by the Government?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, I entirely agree with my noble friend. I am a great devotee of the nomenclature nationale. It is a little regimental and requires registration by the prefect of the particular department, and classification is integrated with registration. It is a bit conformist, if I may put it in that way.

§ Lord Naseby
My Lords, is the Minister aware that Tomorrow's Tourism contains a number of other recommendations, not least the one about lay-bys for tourists going to and from these registered hotels and guest-houses? Can that also be given some priority?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, I believe that the noble Lord tempts me into a lay-by that is quite a way from the original Question, which is concerned with the classification of tourist accommodation. Clearly, all of the proposals in Tomorrow's Tourism are being pursued very actively not just by the Government but by the tourist trade itself.

§ Baroness David
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that in his effort to harmonise these matters everything will be exactly the same? When one wanders round the capitals of Europe, or further afield, it is depressing to find that many hotels are exactly the same and have no character of their own.

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, I shall gladly lend my noble friend the details of the standard 770 classifications. I do not believe that in all cases they require identical provision but comparable provision, and that is what tourists want.

§ Baroness Anelay of St. Johns
My Lords, on more than one occasion today the noble Lord has made reference to the English Tourist Board, which will be monitoring the new system. The noble Lord gives me some encouragement. Does the noble Lord mean by his statements on the English Tourist Board that the Government have gone back on their decision in Tomorrow's Tourism to rename our national tourist board? Can he reassure the House that "England" or "English" will remain in the title?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, I was referring to the English Tourist Board as having been responsible historically for the harmonised scheme. The report on the implementation of the scheme to establish a new national body for tourism in England has been produced after very considerable consultation. That is now with Ministers. We hope to make their conclusions public very shortly. I confirm that the recommended name for the new body includes "England".

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that education and training are crucially important if standards in the tourism industry are to be raised? What encouragement are the Government giving to education and training in the industry?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, we are giving huge encouragement, A major section of Tomorrow's Tourism is concerned with education and training. It is our view that the tourism industry in this country can be helped only if we treat it as a serious and responsible profession. To that extent both the skills training proposals and the introduction of the minimum wage are essential.