New form of SIA will have 'teeth' to deal with issues

The replacement body for the Security Industry Authority (SIA), which regulates pub doorstaff, will have "statutory teeth" to deal with problems in the industry, a Home Office official has said.

Speaking to the SIA annual conference in London today, Tyson Hepple, director of civil liberties and public protection, said the new regulatory regime would be "owned by the industry" but have legal powers, thanks to new primary legislation due to be introduced.

"Primary legislation will be required to wind down the SIA and put in place a new regulatory regime," he said. "It give us an opportunity to create a regulatory regime that works."

Last October the government announced the SIA would be abolished and a new regime would be phased in as part of a "bonfire of the quangos". It has since emerged the government is aiming to have this in place by the end of 2013.

Fears were raised in the pub industry that the removal of the SIA would lead to "crooks and cowboys" becoming doorstaff.

Hepple said the reason for scrapping the SIA in its current form was because the industry had "matured sufficiently and the time was right for a phased transition to a regulatory regime". It was part of wider plans to "reduce the role of the state," he added.

But he reiterated there would be no major changes to the SIA regime before next year's Olympics.

Baroness Ruth Henig, the SIA's chair, admitted there had been "no consultation and no warning" about the SIA being scrapped.

But she added: "It united the industry as never before. We had a chance to spell out to the government what we had achieved."

She said she supported a regulatory regime which allows for "greater involvement and responsibility".

Henig pointed out the SIA had removed 50,000 from the industry and 8,000 people have had their licences revoked.

She added: "We have two crucial years as we work with the government. We will aim to be as transparent as possible."