Stagecoach launches petition to update child licensing legislation

Published Tuesday 9 October 2007 at 14:05 by Alistair Smith

Stagecoach Theatre Arts, the world’s largest stage school franchise, is to launch a petition calling on government to overhaul child licensing legislation.

It claims the legislation is preventing aspiring performers across the UK from appearing in stage productions.

The petition will be launched at Stagecoach’s annual conference on October 16 and the organisation is aiming to get 100,000 signatures. One of the first expected to sign the petition is shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey who has supported the campaign and will be speaking at the conference.

Vaizey told The Stage “unnecessary bureaucracy” was preventing some children from having the chance to appear in professional productions and the “balance had shifted too far in terms of over-protection” within local authorities.

He added: “Stronger and unambiguous guidance is needed for local authorities, but the guidance should also make it clear that local authorities should support the participation of children in the arts and that should be the position they start from.”

All children appearing in professional productions must be licensed. However, Stagecoach, whose schools and acting agencies deal with more than 36,000 young performers, complains councils vary enormously in their interpretation of the national rules and the speed with which they process applications, meaning it becomes impossible for producers to employ children from certain areas.

Tarquin Shaw-Young, managing director of Stagecoach Agency and head of Stagecoach’s Children’s Licence Campaign said: “We want to create a national standard that all local authorities, agents and production companies must adhere to.”

According to Shaw-Young, the regulations behind the act have become so distorted from one local council to the next that children who get jobs are now being turned down because of red tape. His aim is to create a “much-simplified, practical licence everyone understands and more importantly will ensure more time is spent monitoring children’s safety while working in the industry.”

He added: “We are aiming to get 100,000 signatures and welcome any support from across the industry. To sign our petition and lodge your support log on to www.stagecoach.co.uk.” Full details of Stagecoach’s petition and its proposals for revamping current legislation will be unveiled at the organisation’s conference on October 16.

Anyone wishing to contact Shaw-Young about the campaign can do so by emailing tarquin@stagecoachagency.co.uk