City of London (Various Powers) Bill [Lords]

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Jo Swinson)]

As hon. Members will be aware, the Government traditionally do not support or oppose private Bills unless, for some reason, they contain provisions contrary to public policy. In such a case, the Government bring those concerns to the House. In February, I raised such concerns on behalf of the Government, including in particular whether the draft Bill was compatible with the requirements of the European services directive. That concern related to clause 9, which seeks to allow only those with business premises engaged in the production and distribution of food to sell ice-cream from a receptacle outside those premises. It was the Government’s view that the clause failed to comply with the services directive by appearing to discriminate indirectly against non-UK nationals without justification.

Since that debate, I am delighted to be able to tell the House that my officials have engaged with the City of London to better understand the basis of the drafting of the clause, and to consider the issue and the policy justifications in more detail. In the light of that, we have concluded that clause 9 is not discriminatory from the point of view of nationality. This conclusion rests on two grounds. The first is public health, because persons having food premises are more likely to comply with good hygiene practices and regulations, and the second is protection of the urban environment because sites not adjacent to such premises are more likely to be in locations that could cause pedestrians to be put at risk. On balance, these justifications appear to meet the requirements in article 16(3) of the directive, so we are now satisfied that the Bill is compliant with the directive and should be allowed to proceed.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed, with amendments.