COMMONS AMENDMENT (Hansard, 19 June 2003)

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 12. I shall speak also to Commons Amendments Nos.13, 14, 17, 22, 32, 55, 82 and 83. Those amendments are about the admission of children to film exhibitions. Amendments Nos. 27, 29, 33, 34, 85 and 86, which were debated in the context of off sales from qualifying clubs are, in part, consequential on the principle of the amendments relating to this group.

The protection of children from harm is one of the central objectives of the Bill. To reinforce our commitment to protecting children from harm and to emphasise that under the Bill children would not be free to see age-restricted films classified by the British Board of Film Classification or by licensing 930 authorities themselves, the Government tabled amendments at Report stage, which were accepted, providing that a mandatory condition should be imposed by licensing authorities on premises licences and club premises certificates authorising the exhibition of films to the effect that the premises must comply with age restriction classifications given to films either by a body designated under Section 4 of the Video Recordings Act 1984—at present that is the British Board of Film Classification—or by the licensing authority itself, which would preserve the rarely exercised current power of local authorities to classify films themselves, including in relation to individual films.