§ Dr. GlynTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has come to a conclusion on the implications of the report from the chief constable of364W Thames Valley on the incident which occurred on the industrial estate at White Waltham on Saturday 24 June in relation to police powers and penalties.
§ Mr. HurdI have received a further report from the chief constable of Thames Valley police on the events of the weekend of 1 and 2 July 1989. The police were able to take action against a number of parties. The chief constable emphasised the need for good intelligence about the likely location of the parties as the basis for successful enforcement action both by police and local authorities. In at least one case the environmental health officer of the local authority obtained an injunction under the noise control provisions of the Control of Pollution Act 1974. In other cases, the owners of premises have co-operated by withdrawing permission or denying access where no authority had been sought be the organisers.
I set out in reply to earlier questions from my hon. Friend on 29 June at columns 517–18 the comprehensive set of controls which already applies to parties of this kind. It is clear that the main need is for those with advance knowledge of any such party to tell the police so that these controls can be enforced. On this basis, the police in Thames Valley and other police force areas have been able to prevent in advance or shut down a number of such parties which had the potential for disorder recently, some of them potentially large ones.
The police have a range of powers to deal effectively with any criminal offences which may be committed. Steps have been taken to strengthen the police co-ordination and intelligence handling arrangements in order to target enforcement action better.
The public entertainment law already requires organisers to provide adequate standards of safety and hygiene at events of this kind. If that law is ignored, adequate hygiene and safety arrangements may not be made. I am therefore giving further consideration to the need to strengthen the penalties available for breaches of the public entertainment law.
§ Mr. DykesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is now in a position to give his Department's provisional response to public requests for further actions to control so called acid house parties and similar pop concert type events.
§ Sir Michael McNair-WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to give powers to the police to control an ostensibly private party numbering more than 1,000 people which takes place on private land but without the consent of the landowner; and if, where the landowner has agreed to the party taking place, the Secretary of State will provide powers of enforcement for lavatory or first aid facilities to be available and to inform the local constabulary or the local authority in whose area the site for the party is situated.
§ Mr. HurdThere is already a comprehensive set of controls which applies to parties of this kind. I refer my hon. Friends to the reply given to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor and Maidenhead (Dr. Glyn) today.