Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, Amendment 115 would prevent the Secretary of State imposing any national mandatory licensing conditions on licensed premises. We fully recognise that the majority of businesses sell alcohol responsibly, and we certainly do not want to impose unfair burdens on them, particularly in a difficult economic climate. However, a minority of premises in this country operate irresponsible practices and promotions. By irresponsible, I mean offers such as, "All you can drink for £10" or "Girls drink free"—I have never managed to get to one of those with my wife, I must say, but apparently they exist. Such promotions encourage excessive drinking and contribute to alcohol-related crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour. Many people, including many in the alcohol industry, would agree that this should not be happening anywhere. While we recognise that local problems are usually best dealt with at a local level, there are some problems or practices that are not local and therefore need a consistent and national approach. Almost half of all violent crime in England and Wales is alcohol-related. That is almost 1 million offences. Around one in five adults in this country admit to binge drinking at least once a week, and around one in four people think that drunken or rowdy behaviour is a problem in their area. These are clearly issues of national concern and certain types of industry practices and promotions are contributing to them. That is why we must take action at national level to restrict them. That view was supported by about 90 per cent of more than 2,000 respondents to the Department of Health’s public consultation last year. ACPO stated that it believed that mandatory restrictions were necessary, and the independent review conducted by KPMG into the industry’s voluntary standards also concluded that a set of mandatory standards was necessary. The Bill therefore establishes the framework through which we can take action at national level to put a stop to those irresponsible practices and promotions once and for all. We recognise the potential impact of such blanket restrictions, and that is why this Bill limits the number of mandatory conditions to nine to ensure that we do not impose undue burdens on the majority of businesses, small or large, that sell alcohol responsibly. That is why we held such a wide-ranging consultation on the detail of the conditions earlier this year. More than 7,000 responses were received and, although they are still being analysed, I assure noble Lords that they will be fully taken into account when developing the final conditions to ensure that they are proportionate and targeted. I believe that it is right that we have the power to tackle these promotions and practices at national level, as the Bill allows, and we will continue to work to ensure that the mandatory conditions are as targeted as possible. I hope that, on this basis, the noble Lord will withdraw his amendment. In a direct answer to the specific question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, we do not currently have a list of mandatory conditions. As I said, we have consulted, we have received 7,000 responses, and we will come out with the conditions.