Hamish Birchall Bulletin
Friday 15th July 2011 - Stop Press - live music bill passes Committee stage
| Lord
Clement-Jones' live music bill cleared an important hurdle this morning
when all its amendments were passed at the House of Lords Committee
stage debate. Crucially, this included the 11pm cut-off for a small gigs licensing exemption, which cleared the way for unqualified government support provided by their spokesperson in the debate, Baroness Garden of Frognal. The bill's chances of becoming law are now significantly increased. Lord Clement-Jones raised the possibility that the 11pm licensing threshold for acoustic events might be subject to review under the government's proposed consultation on further entertainment licensing deregulation, expected before the autumn. The amended bill was praised by Labour's DCMS spokesperson, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara who also expressed 'much regret' at his government's handling of entertainment licensing and live music. Report and 3rd Reading stages in the Lords should now proceed within a few weeks, after which the bill goes to the House of Commons, possibly in September. The written Hansard record will not be available for a few hours, but you can watch on Parliament TV. Note that the debate begins about 25 minutes after the first debate of the day - and there doesn't appear to be a time-slider: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=8777&wfs=true A full report will follow early next week. ENDS Hamish Birchall |