Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of adjusting training requirements in order to re-activate expired door security licenses to address the shortage of security staff in the night time economy sector.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Door supervisors are licensed by the Security Industry Authority (SIA). The requirement for door supervisor licence holders to achieve a qualification helps to ensure that they and members of the public are kept safe. The SIA sets the appropriate standard of qualifications, taking into account the views of interested parties including the industry, public safety experts and coroners.
The Government does not believe that re-activating expired licences, without those holding expired licences being subject to the normal application process, would be acceptable on public safety grounds. The normal application checks include whether an operative has been convicted of any criminal offences since last being granted a licence.
The SIA recognises the qualifications offered by a number of government-regulated awarding organisations for the purposes of licensing. Neither the Home Office nor the SIA regulates the delivery of training which is the responsibility of dedicated agencies across the devolved administrations.
It is also not the responsibility of the Home Office or the SIA to fund vocational education and training. The SIA is funded by licence application fees and Approved Contractor Scheme fees on the basis of the full recovery of its costs. Funding training for one type of licence applicant would require the SIA to recoup these costs from other applicants.
However, the SIA recognises the importance of supporting licence-holders and applicants, especially during the current exceptional circumstances. The SIA has worked with the training providers’ awarding bodies to ensure that training is as flexible and cost-effective as possible. Options include a mixture of self-study, virtual classrooms, and face-to-face training in COVID-19 secure environments in line with Ofqual guidance.
I am pleased to report that there are record numbers of licensed door supervisors on the register of SIA licence holders.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of door security staff available to work in hospitality and late-night venues; and what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of available door security staff.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Door supervisors are licensed by the Security Industry Authority (SIA). The requirement for door supervisor licence holders to achieve a qualification helps to ensure that they and members of the public are kept safe. The SIA sets the appropriate standard of qualifications, taking into account the views of interested parties including the industry, public safety experts and coroners.
The Government does not believe that re-activating expired licences, without those holding expired licences being subject to the normal application process, would be acceptable on public safety grounds. The normal application checks include whether an operative has been convicted of any criminal offences since last being granted a licence.
The SIA recognises the qualifications offered by a number of government-regulated awarding organisations for the purposes of licensing. Neither the Home Office nor the SIA regulates the delivery of training which is the responsibility of dedicated agencies across the devolved administrations.
It is also not the responsibility of the Home Office or the SIA to fund vocational education and training. The SIA is funded by licence application fees and Approved Contractor Scheme fees on the basis of the full recovery of its costs. Funding training for one type of licence applicant would require the SIA to recoup these costs from other applicants.
However, the SIA recognises the importance of supporting licence-holders and applicants, especially during the current exceptional circumstances. The SIA has worked with the training providers’ awarding bodies to ensure that training is as flexible and cost-effective as possible. Options include a mixture of self-study, virtual classrooms, and face-to-face training in COVID-19 secure environments in line with Ofqual guidance.
I am pleased to report that there are record numbers of licensed door supervisors on the register of SIA licence holders.