§ 8.15 p.m.
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, that they, having been informed of the purport of the Safety of Sports Grounds Bill, have consented to place their interests, so far as they are concerned on behalf of the Crown, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.
THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS)My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 3a.—(Viscount Colville of Culross.)
§ On Question, Bill read 3a.
§ Clause 9 [Court's power to prohibit or restrict use of stadium]:
§
LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL moved Amendment No. 1:
Page 7, line 34, leave out ("local authority are satisfied") and insert ("court is satisfied, on the application of the local authority")
§ The noble Lord said: On behalf of my noble friend, I beg to move Amendment No. 1. In endeavouring to be brief, and with the leave of the House, I will speak to all four Amendments together and then move the last three formally. These Amendments reflect the further consideration the Government have been giving to Clause 9 as a whole, and in particular to the points raised by the noble Lords, Lord Stow Hill and Lord Wynne-Jones, during earlier stages of the Bill. The Government also tried to meet a point raised by my noble friend Lord 439 Kinnoull, who says that he approves of what has been done, but was unfortunately unable to stay with your Lordships to say it himself.
§ Amendment No. 1 is really no more than a clarification and a drafting Amendment setting out what happens in practice, and Amendment No. 3 is consequential and on a similar point. The previous Amendments on the Report stage widened the scope of Clause 9(1) so that it applied to all sports grounds except certificated stadia. But we recognise that emergency situations may well arise at certificated stadia, irrespective of the operation of the certificate, and that the threat of a prosecution for breach of the terms of the certificate may not always be adequate to deal with an emergency situation. So the purpose of Amendment No. 2 is to apply the procedure in Clause 9(1) to all sports grounds, irrespective of whether they have received certificates.
§ We hope that this extension of the emergency procedure will allay the fears of those who doubted whether the possibly protracted criminal proceedings for a breach of the law would adequately ensure that all emergency situations could speedily be put right. The extended scope of Clause 9(1), which, as I have said, was designed to meet the points put forward by noble Lords, has also forced us to abandon the original concept of Clause 9(2), which was that an order of the Crown Court restricting admission to a ground should be associated with the conviction for an offence under the Bill on indictment. It now seems better to deal with the closure, or the partial closure, of a ground solely as a matter of safety. This would be under the Clause 9(1) procedure. So the original Clause 9(2) has been dropped, and the three subsections set out in Amendment No. 4 have been introduced.
§ We agree with the argument that there should be a chance for the order to be lifted or modified by the magistrates' court if the circumstances change, and if measures are taken to rectify the faults at the ground, for instance, or indeed if the certificates were to be transferred to another person who was more reasonable in recognising the risks and in putting them right. The order could then be cancelled or modified. Incidentally, the 440 modification could also be more restrictive if the circumstances required it. I think that was a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Stow Hill, on the Report stage. Then there is also a right of appeal to a higher court. This right of appeal is to the Crown Court and is arranged on lines similar to those provided in Section 27 of the Fire Precautions Act 1971. I beg to move.
§ LORD GARNSWORTHYMy Lords, the House will appreciate the care with which the noble Lord, Lord Strathcona, has explained the purpose of these Amendments. If my noble and learned friend Lord Stow Hill had found it possible to be here, I should have been very glad for him to deal with the matter from this side of the House, if only because I have been here since half past two. However, on behalf of my noble and learned friend and also on behalf of my noble friend Lord Wynne-Jones, I should like to say that we appreciate the way in which the Ministers have endeavoured to meet the points we raised at Second Reading and during the Committee and Report stages. I believe I said at the end of the Report stage that the Government have conceded many of the points we raised and have introduced the Amendments necessary to meet them. We are most grateful. I have been extremely fortunate in having the assistance of my noble friends, in particular my noble and learned friend Lord Stow Hill. I feel that the Bill, as it leaves this House, is much better than when it came here. We are very grateful indeed to the noble Viscount, Lord Colville, for the manner in which he has treated the points we have put forward; we have appreciated the expertise he has made available to us. We are also grateful to his noble friend Lord Strathcona. We have received nothing but courtesy and co-operation from them, and we wish the Bill well in its passage through another place.
VISCOUNT COLVILLE of CULROSSMy Lords, rather than making a speech at the next stage, I should like to express gratitude to the noble Lord, Lord Garnsworthy, for what he has said. The great thing about the noble Lord and his noble friends, and indeed some of his supporters on this side of the House, is that they have really looked carefully at this Bill and have made the Government think about it. We have changed this clause, and 441 several other things, too, quite substantially. It has really been a co-operative effort, with various speakers putting forward ideas; and we have tried to act upon them. The noble Lord, Lord Garnsworthy has been most generous and I in turn should like to be generous to those who have given a great deal of attention to the details of this Bill. We have thought very carefully about it, and I agree that we have succeeded in improving the Bill.
On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYALMy Lords, I beg to move Amendments Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
§ Amendments moved—
§ Page 7, line 35, leave out from ("ground") to ("is") in line 37.
§ Page 7, line 39, leave out from second ("the") to ("may") at page 8, line 2, and insert ("court").
§ Page 8, line 8, leave out subsection (2) and insert—
- ("(2) At any time when an order under subsection (1) above is in operation in respect of a sports ground, any person may apply to the court which made the order for its cancellation or modification; and upon such an application the court may order that it shall be cancelled, or modified in such manner as may be specified by the court, from such date as the court may specify.
- (3) An application under subsection (1) or (2) above shall be made in England and Wales by complaint, and in Scotland by summary application.
- (4) A person aggrieved by an order made by a magistrates' court under subsection (1) or (2) above may appeal from the order to the Crown Court; and for the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that the local authority may be a person aggrieved within the meaning of this subsection.")—(Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal.)
§ On Question, Amendments agreed to.
§ An Amendment (privilege) made. Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.