Brown rebuffs calls to review child licensing laws

Published Tuesday 25 March 2008 at 13:45 by Lalayn Baluch

Gordon Brown’s lukewarm response to a Downing Street petition calling for the overhaul of licensing laws for child performers has been criticised by stage school representatives for failing to address concerns voiced by the sector.

The petition, launched by performing arts school and acting agency Go For It, called on the government to standardise procedures throughout the country.

It claimed that current legislation was misunderstood by local authorities, resulting in a postcode lottery, with children receiving varied treatment from area to area. It was signed by 224 people.

However, while Brown’s statement recognised the disparity between local authorities, it failed to respond to the call for standardisation.

Brown said: “The government understand the concern people have about the risk of a ‘postcode lottery’ that arises where local decision-making is involved. Nevertheless, it is important that performance licensing should be carried out by authorities that are able to make judgements based on national standards, but also in accordance with local circumstances, such as the advice of headteachers.”

Teri Scoble, principal of Go For It and an Equity councillor, told The Stage: “It is political speech that doesn’t say they are going to do anything about it, which we all hoped they would.”

While conceding that the response was a “nudge in the right direction”, Scoble criticised the government’s call for headteachers to continue to have a say in the child licensing procedures. She said that this would prove impossible during school holidays and therefore children would lose out on work.

Meanwhile, managing director and head of casting at Stagecoach Agency, Tarquin Shaw-Young, commented: “Gordon Brown has said ‘we are doing all we can’. He doesn’t understand or appreciate how big of a problem this is. It is all tied up with education, because when a child applies for a licence, they have to have a headteacher’s letter. Parents are so desperate for children to work, they are forging headteachers’ notes, which is a ludicrous state of affairs.”

Stagecoach is organising its own petition demanding an overhaul of the system, which Shaw-Young says has been signed by “several thousand” people, including shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey.

On May 13, Shaw-Young, Vaizey, Stagecoach founder Stephanie Manuel and 25 children from across the country will present Downing Street with the school’s petition, which the agency chief hopes will prompt a more positive response from Brown.

Stagecoach and Go For It are also urging Equity to proceed with plans to extend membership to child performers.