HC Deb 10 May 1976 vol 911 cc122-4
Mr. Guy Barnett

I beg to move Amendment No. 40, in page 21, line 43, leave out from ' to ' to 'who' in line 44 and insert: 'sub-sections (6A) and (7) of this section, a person'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker

With this, we may discuss Government Amendments Nos. 41, 42, 43 and 44.

Mr. Barnett

The effect of these amendments is to make the person on whom a notice is served liable for compliance with its requirements, notwithstanding that by the expiration of the period specified in the notice he may have ceased to be the owner or occupier; but to make it a defence for him to prove that he did not cease to be an owner or occupier by reason of anything done or omitted by himself or another with a view to avoiding compliance with the notice.

The clause as drafted would penalise only a person who was an owner or occupier of a relevant place both when the notice was served and when the failure to comply occurred, and so would lend itself to evasion simply by change of ownership or occupancy. Such a change could occur wholly innocently, for example by simple expiry of an interest, or bankruptcy and that would consitute a defence under the amendments, but the onus is placed upon the person upon whom the notice was served to satisfy the court that the change of ownership or occupancy was not merely a means to defeat the notice.

Amendment No. 42 is the substantive amendment. The other four are consequential.

Amendment agreed to.

Amendments made: No. 41, in page 21, line 45, leave out 'the' and insert 'a relevant'.

No. 42, in page 22, line 3, at end insert: '(6A) In proceedings for an offence under the preceding subsection of failing to comply with a notice it shall be a defence to show that at the time of the failure the person on whom the notice was served was neither an owner nor an occupier of the relevant place in question and that he did not cease to be an owner or occupier of it by reason of anything done or omitted by him or any other person with a view to avoiding compliance with the notice'.

No. 43, in page 22, line 4, leave out 'the preceding subsection' and insert 'subsection (6) of this section'.

No. 44, in page 22, line 11, leave out 'the preceding subsection' and insert subsection (6) of this section '.—[Mr. Guy Barnett.]

Mr. Speed

I beg to move Amendment No. 45, in page 22, line 24, at end insert: '(7A) This section shall not apply to any premises in respect of which there is in force a licence under the Cinematograph Acts 1909 and 1952 and the Gaming Act 1968'. This amendment relates to a problem which has been raised with me by the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association. It argues that any premises licensed under the appropriate Acts, which are listed in the amendment, have to conform to an appropriate licence concerning sanitary conveniences and other matters which are mentioned in the clause. The association feels that if this amendment were accepted, taking out from the provisions of the clause a reference to what is already licensed, this would prevent an unnecessary duplication. It is a small but important point and I hope that the amendment will be accepted.

Mr. Guy Barnett

I listened with interest to the hon. Gentleman. It is quite true that cinematograph licensing authorities already impose conditions requiring sanitary conveniences. The same local authorities would exercise Clause 19 powers and would have some knowledge of cinemas and their problems. It is understood that the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association is extremely concerned about the risk of new capital expenditure being required in an industry facing a declining market, but this does not seem to justify declining to allow local authorities powers to require reasonable facilities in premises of this kind.

I do not think that it would be anything other than a retrograde step to remove the application of this provision and, therefore, I must advise the House that we cannot accept the amendment.

Mr. Speed

Naturally I am disappointed, but as this matter may well be looked at in another place, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

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