§ Baroness Anelay of St. Johnsasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the statement by the Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 15 March (H.L. Deb., col. 1541) that "First, we want to evaluate the voluntary approach" to hotel registration, (a) how long the evaluation period will last; and (b) what percentage take-up of the scheme will be considered by the Government to be sufficient to avoid the consideration of a statutory scheme for hotel registration. [HL1606]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyIt is most important that we give the voluntary approach to the new quality standards enough time to make an impact. Take-up of the new standards is already approaching 50 per cent and further progress will be reviewed at next year's Tourism Summit. We support efforts by the English Tourism Council, the AA and the RAC to encourage more properties to join. These include the ETC's new "Stepping Stones" initiative, aimed at encouraging134WA those establishments which do not currently participate in or meet the minimum national standard.
The new quality standards have made an encouraging start but they are in their infancy. It is too soon to predict what take-up percentage will he sufficient to improve the quality of accommodation to the competitive levels that we consider necessary.