Manchester City Council Bill [Lords](By Order)

My hon. Friend's point is similar to the point made by the hon. Member for Brent, East (Sarah Teather), although he made it in a different way. If he will allow me to make a little progress, he may welcome some of what I am about to say. We should not forget that local authorities are already able to tackle illegal street trading, and street traders selling counterfeit or dangerous goods. Last November in the other place, Lord Bach observed that enforcement officers already undertake activity to regulate the streets. In practice, that means that they can conduct initial advisory discussions with unlicensed traders, that they can counsel those traders to obtain the necessary licence or pedlars certificate, and that they can—and do—tell them the consequences of continuing to trade outside the law. They can take action resulting in a fine of up to £1,000 against a persistent unlicensed trader who has already been subject to oral and written warnings. Last November, the Government introduced the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill. Part 3 will, where appropriate, allow local authorities and other regulators to impose a range of administrative sanctions as an alternative to criminal prosecution when enforcing existing legislation. The Pedlars Act 1871 is within the scope of part 3, and the new powers—including, in particular, fixed monetary penalties—could be used by local authorities as an alternative to prosecuting those involved in pedlary without a licence. When implemented, the powers in part 3 may reduce the need for the promotion of individual private Bills. I have reflected further, however, on the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, South-East, on the debate in the other place back in November, and on the fact that, as a number of Members have made clear, there is considerable—albeit not uniform—interest in further powers throughout the local authority world. As a result, I have initiated a research project led by Durham university, which will consider the current position, whether the existing powers are sufficient, albeit underused, and what—if any—different powers would be useful to the tackling of problems relating to street trading in our towns and cities. Should the evidence resulting from that forthcoming research project demonstrate that there is a case for national legislation, we will assess the options available to us. Towards the end of the year, we will publish a report on the Department's website setting out the research findings and the Government's views on the appropriate next steps. It would not be right for me to commit to national legislation before we have the evidence base to justify the case for that. It is clear that there are particular problems in particular areas, which is why a series of local authorities have brought forward individual Bills to deal with the problems that they feel exist in their areas. It is for the House to take a judgment on the merit, or otherwise, of those Bills.