Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006

63 Removal of sports grounds etc. from private security industry regulation

In section 4 of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 (c. 12) (exemptions from licensing requirement) after subsection (5) insert—

“(6) A relevant employee who engages in licensable conduct shall not be guilty of an offence under section 3 in respect of that conduct if it is carried out in connection with the use of a certified sports ground or certified sports stand for purposes for which its safety certificate has effect.

(7) An employee for a visiting team who engages in licensable conduct shall not be guilty of an offence under section 3 in respect of that conduct if—

(a) it is carried out in connection with the use of a certified sports ground or certified sports stand for purposes for which its safety certificate has effect; and

(b) that visiting team is involved in the activities for which the ground is being used, or which the stand is being used to view.

(8) In subsection (7) a reference to a person being an employee for a visiting team is a reference to his being a relevant employee in relation to the visitors' ground, or in relation to a certified sports stand contained in the visitors' premises.

(9) In this section ‘a relevant employee’, in relation to a certified sports ground or certified sports stand, means a person employed by—

(a) the holder of its safety certificate;

(b) a person who manages the ground or stand or occupies the premises where it is or owns an interest in those premises;

(c) a company which is in the same group as a company falling within paragraph (b).

(10) In this section a reference to the use of a certified sports ground for purposes for which the safety certificate has effect is a reference to—

(a) the use of the ground for activities specified in a general safety certificate in force in respect of the use of that ground; or

(b) the use of the ground, on an occasion specified in a special safety certificate which is so in force, for activities specified in that certificate.

(11) In this section a reference to the use of a certified sports stand for purposes for which the safety certificate has effect is a reference to—

(a) the use of the stand for viewing activities specified in a general safety certificate in force in respect of the use of that stand; or

(b) the use of the stand, on an occasion specified in a special safety certificate which is so in force, for viewing activities specified in that certificate.

(12) In this section—

• ‘certified sports ground’ means a sports ground in respect of which a safety certificate is in force;

• ‘certified sports stand’ means a sports stand in respect of which a safety certificate is in force;

• ‘company’, ‘holding company’ and ‘subsidiary’ have the same meanings as in section 736 of the Companies Act 1985 (c. 6);

• ‘group’, in relation to a company, means a holding company and all of its subsidiaries;

• ‘safety certificate’, ‘general safety certificate’ and ‘special safety certificate’—

  (a)

  in relation to a sports ground, have the same meanings as in the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 (see sections 1(4) and 17(1) of that Act); and

  (b)

  in relation to a sports stand, have the same meanings as in Part 3 of the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987 (see section 26(2) and (11) of that Act);

• ‘sports ground’ has the same meaning as in that Act of 1975 (see section 17(1) of that Act);

• ‘sports stand’ means a stand within the meaning of Part 3 of that Act of 1987 (see section 26(11) of that Act);

• ‘visiting team’, in relation to a certified sports ground (‘the home ground’) or a certified sports stand contained in any premises (‘the home premises’) means a team which uses as its base, or as one of its bases, any premises which are either—

  (a)

  a certified sports ground which is not the home ground (‘the visitors' ground’); or

  (b)

  premises which are not the home premises and which contain a certified sports stand (‘the visitors' premises’);

• ‘visitors' ground’ and ‘visitors' premises’, in relation to a visiting team, have the meanings given by the previous definition.”