Part 1: Public Protection Requirements Introductory: sections 1 to 4 Section 4: Persons responsible for qualifying premises or events
This section defines who is responsible for qualifying premises or a qualifying event (and therefore who is responsible for meeting the relevant requirements). Subsection (1) provides that a person is responsible for a qualifying premises where they have control of the premises in connection with the relevant Schedule 1 use (see below for an explanation of that term). For example, that might be the organisation which operates a theatre or the company which holds the lease for and operates a shopping centre. Where a party is appointed as a contractor to carry out work at the premises, but that party has only limited control over the premises (for example, a security guarding company that is appointed to provide door staff at a nightclub) it is highly unlikely that they will be the person responsible for the premises in connection with the relevant Schedule 1 use.
	Schedule 1 includes certain provisions (such as paragraph 16(2)) to specify who is the person responsible for certain types of premises.
	The person responsible for a qualifying event will be the person who has control of the premises where the qualifying event is to be held for the purposes of the event. The relevant circumstances of the event will need to be considered to determine who the responsible person is. For example, if a concert is to be held in a park and the company putting on the event takes control of an area of the park and has control of that area for the purposes of that concert, the company putting on the event will be the responsible person. Conversely, if a stately home puts on a concert in its grounds and maintains control of the site of the concert for the purposes of that event, the stately home will be the responsible person. This would be the case even if the stately home contracted organisations to do aspects of the event (e.g. to provide door security or ticketing). Responsibility cannot be delegated to contracted services.
	Subsection (2) provides the meaning of "relevant Schedule 1 use". If the premises are only used for one of the activities recognised by Schedule 1, it will be that use. If the premises are used for more than one type of activities, the relevant Schedule 1 use will be whichever of those is the principal use. The principal use of the premises will be determined on a case-by-case basis, taking account of factors such as the amount of time for which the premises are used for each type of activity. However, in addition, subsection (3) provides a regulation-making power that enables the Secretary of State to provide specific rules as to how principal use is to be determined.
	If there is more than one person responsible for qualifying premises or a qualifying event, then they are jointly responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act’s requirements (subsection (5)), and they must work together to comply with those requirements (see section 8). Such a situation will arise only where each of the parties has control over the premises in connection with the relevant Schedule 1 use. It does not mean, for example, that the multiple tenants of a shopping centre are jointly responsible for the shopping centre as a whole; rather each will be responsible for their respective premises.