HL Deb 11 November 2003 vol 654 cc185-6WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether women in mixed-sex clubs that discriminate on grounds of sex have weaker or fewer voting rights as a result of the repeal of Schedule 7 to the Licensing Act 1964. [HL5234]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

It is the Government's view that this repeal will not weaken the position for women in mixed-sex clubs but will, to a small degree, improve it.

Sex discrimination is not currently unlawful in relation to the membership of clubs. In determining whether a club may be registered for the purposes of the 1964 Act, the magistrates, in cases where a club does not conform to the provisions in Schedule 7 to that Act, have a discretion to consider whether it is established and conducted in good faith. As a consequence, Schedule 7 gives no absolute protection with regard to the mandatory application of its provisions.

There is only one area where magistrates must apply the provisions of Schedule 7 to the 1964 Act and have no discretion, and that is in the area of elective committees. However, even here the provisions in Schedule 7 provide a derogation. Although Schedule 7 applies certain voting requirements for elective committees to the effect that all members entitled to use the club must be entitled to vote for the committee, there is an important exception to this. Where the club is primarily a men's club, women may be excluded from voting, and where the club is primarily a women's club, men may be excluded from voting. This obviously undermines the effect of Schedule 7 in reducing sex discrimination under the 1964 Act. The Licensing Act 2003 will remove this anomaly in the mandatory area.

The Government believe that the 2003 Act improves the current position as it provides that where a club supplies alcohol, the committee which purchases the alcohol must be elected by the members of the club. The effect of this formulation is that all members of the club, of any class of membership, must vote for the committee. For these purposes the reference to "member" would not include "associate members" as defined in Section 67 of the 2003 Act, who are members of another recognised club or a guest of such a person for the purposes of the 2003 Act. Unlike Schedule 7 to the 1964 Act, this provision does not have any derogations and can therefore be seen as a strengthening of the voting rights within club membership from the standpoint of the prevention of sex discrimination.

The Government therefore believe that the Licensing Act 2003 slightly improves on the current situation in licensing law, and will not weaken any existing protections.