Policing and Crime Bill

These two probing amendments have been tabled with the intention of discovering how the Government came to decide that the annual renewal of licences is reasonable. It seems to be a fair burden on businesses to have to renew their licences each year, and it is also quite an administrative burden on a local authority with a lot of clubs. We do not want this to become in any way an exercise in rubber-stamping just to get through the volume of business. Amendment 91 would exclude licences granted in respect of sex encounter venues from the provisions that such licences should be renewed on an annual basis. As I say, the amendment is probing in nature to discover whether a biannual renewal period would be more reasonable. An annual renewal period seems a little more frequent than necessary, but I am sure the Minister has an explanation. I beg to move.