Licensing Act

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Miss Begg, and to be here to respond to the excellent report of the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport. I pay tribute, as colleagues have done, to the Chairman of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford (Mr. Whittingdale) for his excellent chairing. We will not always agree on the issues raised by the Committee, but he has always treated Ministers reasonably in putting points to us. I was grateful for his broad welcome of many of the measures in the Licensing Act, and I will respond to some of the issues that he raised later in my contribution. As the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr. Vaizey) said, no hon. Members who have spoken, other than my hon. friend the Member for Selby (Mr. Grogan), chair of the all-party group on beer, are with us, but I am sure that they will be interested to read in Hansard my responses to the issues that they raised. Each, in their own way, has brought expertise to this debate in terms of commitments to their constituency and the issues that they raised. I acknowledge the contribution made by the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), who has his own personal views on how to deal with the issues that he faces. I did not agree with him about irresponsible advertising; I shall return to that a little later. As has been said, the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik) supports live music and is passionate about the issues that face his constituency. My hon. Friend the Member for Selby has an excellent track record on issues relating to the Licensing Act, and I am grateful to him, perhaps more than most, for killing some of the myths around the Licensing Act relating to binge drinking. Some people have tried to use the Licensing Act as the bearer of bad news for all issues involving problems with drinking. We know that that is not the case, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his work with the sector. The hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Field) raised different issues relating to the uniqueness of the capital and the problems that it faces with licensing. The hon. Member for Teignbridge (Richard Younger-Ross) raised a number of issues to which I ought to respond, but again, he broadly welcomed what occurs in relation to the Licensing Act and the objectives that we have tried to reach. I think that my hon. Friend the Member for Selby said that very few parties, if any, will go into the next election saying that they want to move away from the change in licensing hours. The hon. Member for Wantage clearly must have his political rant; that is what he is there for. He is the Opposition spokesperson, so he cannot agree with anything that the Government do for fear of losing his job. However, I recognise some of the points that he raised, and I will try to respond to them in the spirit that he made them. It is always a great pleasure to be involved in such debates. What strikes me is how many people's lives are affected by the Licensing Act and by Department for Culture, Media and Sport issues. The issues that we face are important to the economy right across sectors, but they are also important to the lives of our constituents. I have listened to the many points raised by hon. Members, and I will try to respond to them. We should not lose sight of the important impact that the Licensing Act has on our economy. It is vital, particularly in difficult times, not to do anything that damages opportunities within the economy. I am mindful of that and have tried to ensure that colleagues are too as we have talked through the issues. However, although it is important to the economy, it is also important to the enrichment of our lives, whether that involves visiting the pub, watching a ballet performance, attending a village fête or going to a gig. Many licensed premises such as community pubs and village halls play an important role in our communities. The Act also covers areas where it is important to provide public protection from crime and disorder, public nuisance and so on. The Government believe that it is vital that the sale of alcohol, in particular, is properly regulated. However, there is a fine balance between providing the necessary public protection and safeguarding the rights of the responsible majority. It is particularly right and important to get the legislative balance right in these difficult times when many businesses are struggling, local authorities' resources are being squeezed and individuals are tightening their belts. That was apparent in the statistics released today that show an increase in the number of premises licences surrendered and lapsed and a decrease in applications compared to last year, which may be a result of the recession. However, the industry seems to be responding innovatively, with businesses diversifying what they offer to attract customers, as the hon. Member for Wantage pointed out. The number of temporary event notices increased, and I am pleased to say that so did the number of premises licences with any regulated entertainment. Significantly, today's statistics show that there has been an 11 per cent. increase in premises licences with live music authorisation between 2007 and 2009. That leads me to perhaps the main issue raised by the Select Committee Chair in relation to live music. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I understand that many people who are passionate about live music are sincere in their view that some small events are being deterred or restricted because of unnecessary regulation. We are therefore minded to consider an exemption from the Licensing Act for live music in small venues with a capacity of less than 100, and we will set out the consultation. My right hon. Friend will write to Cabinet colleagues about the possibility of bringing forward a legislative reform order to deliver such an exemption. As hon. Members know, for that to be successful it must have the support of cross-party Committees in both Houses of Parliament. He believes that this should not be a party political issue, so he will write to his opposite numbers in other parties to try to establish a cross-party consensus. We believe that it is possible to deliver on that. In establishing the consultation, I understand that local authorities and others have concerns. I acknowledge the point that was made about St. Albans and I was not trying to chide the Select Committee Chairman. I think that Councillor White has an opportunity to help and I am sure he will want to, given that we have expressed our views on the issues that affect St. Albans. I acknowledge that there are concerns about public protection issues such as disorder, public safety and noise nuisance. That is why we have to consult fully on the exemption. We will also seek to create a power to remove an exemption if there are problems at a premises. We propose to consult on measures to clarify that facilities for making music do not require a licence if they are used to play incidental music, which is already exempt from licensing requirements. For facilities to be separately licensable in such situations would be absurd and was not intended under the 2003 Act. As part of the clarification, the consultation will propose a change to the definition of "entertainment facilities" so that the mere provision of musical instruments, such as a pub piano, is not licensable. We believe that the changes will assist the excellent work of the Musicians Union, local government and the British Beer and Pub Association on the live music working party to ensure that venues take advantage of the incidental music exemption and, where appropriate, the new minor variations procedure. In addition to those measures, we will continue to support live music through music sponsorship initiatives. Arts Council England supports a wide range of artistic activities. It funds 107 music organisations and makes a large number of project funding awards through the "Grants for the arts" lottery programme. Following a recommendation by the Live Music Forum, we have committed £500,000 to set up 10 pilot music rehearsal spaces in local authority-owned buildings in England over the financial years 2008-09 and 2009-10. Live music is just one area in which we are pleased to announce progress since the publication of the Select Committee's report. As the Select Committee Chairman has acknowledged, we have taken several important steps to make the licensing regime more efficient and to remove unnecessary burdens on thousands of businesses and voluntary organisations. We have introduced the minor variations process to make it quicker and cheaper to make small changes that do not affect the licensing objectives. We have introduced an order to ease the burden on village halls and community premises when applying for licences to sell alcohol. We have published a consultation document on the introduction of an electronic application process. Those are important steps that reduce the burden of the 2003 Act and have resulted in a considerable reduction in red tape. The administrative savings are estimated to be £99 million per annum. That will benefit not just businesses, but the third sector and non-profit-making clubs. We are aware that more needs to be done and we plan to consider the design of the licensing forms and other aspects of the application system, such as advertising, once other simplification measures have been implemented. We are in the early stages of drawing up a consultation on new simplification measures that are designed to reduce the administrative costs of the 2003 Act. I will mention just two of the proposed changes. First, on temporary event notices, we intend to consult on giving the police a discretionary power to allow late notifications for low-risk events. That might help circuses. As the current minimum notice period for temporary event notices is 10 working days, that will help event organisers when, for example, they are forced to cancel an event at short notice and wish to reschedule for the following weekend. The police have indicated that, in principle, they would welcome such a discretion. Secondly, as I indicated in my response to the Select Committee, the consultation will propose an extension to the period during which the licence can be transferred after the death of the premises licence holder. As the Select Committee Chairman said, the current period is seven days. That also applies to incapacity and insolvency. We agree that in such circumstances the time scale is too short and are minded to replace it with a period of 28 days. I have listened to requests for the licensing authorities to be more involved in the review process. We have proposed amendments to the Policing and Crime Bill to increase their involvement. That would allow any member of the local council to call for reviews by making them interested parties under the legislation. At present, a local councillor cannot call for a review unless they live near the premises or are asked to do so by a local resident. We propose to allow licensing officers, who often have local knowledge about licensed premises, to call for reviews without waiting for another part of the authority or the police to do so. That would replace the parts of the proposed mandatory code that would have given licensing authorities similar, but less flexible, powers on groups of premises. Those proposals have been welcomed by licensees and local authorities. I now turn to specific issues raised by the Select Committee Chairman and other hon. Members. On alcohol promotions, we are not minded to introduce minimum pricing, as suggested by the hon. Member for Teignbridge (Richard Younger-Ross). We will look closely at what happens in Scotland. We want to use legislation to take action when there is an evidence base to show that promotions are irresponsible. We will ensure that those issues are discussed under the Policing and Crime Bill. The mandatory code is important. We want to ensure that the more than 7,000 responses are analysed properly. The Select Committee Chairman spoke about the Prime Minister's announcement. It is important that we do all that we can to ensure that we have the right powers in the right places. The Prime Minister simply wanted to ensure that we had looked at all the avenues and that we move forward on the right basis. The Government are not minded to implement a database of personal licence holders. We do not think that there is a strong enough business case to justify committing public money to that proposal. That is based on the evidence put to us by external consultants in 2005. We will monitor the situation and consider the suggestions of local authorities and responsible authorities on how the existing information can be shared more effectively. I am sure that the Select Committee will return to that issue if no progress is made. As the Minister with responsibility for sport, gambling and licensing, I believe that sport at every level is vital to the nation. Community sports clubs are a key element in creating the champions of the future. We do not want to do anything that would attack or upset such clubs. That is why we strongly support the community amateur sports club scheme, which provides a range of tax benefits, including mandatory tax relief on 80 per cent. of business rates and the ability to claim gift aid on donations. There is a difficulty in subsidising alcohol in such premises. We need to discuss further how such a differential can be made. I was interested in the comments of the Select Committee Chairman on that. Perhaps we will return to that issue in our discussions about how to support such small clubs, which are a key part of our sporting life. The Government want to work with the Live Music Forum and local government to support more live music. We want to ensure that musicians at all levels have the opportunity to perform live. The two-in-a-bar rule militated against groups. As we heard earlier, many people now get involved in music by joining groups. We will listen to campaigners and work with the Musicians Union and the Live Music Forum. Now that I have made the announcement about the consultation, I am happy to have further discussions about how we can move forward. The debate on this issue is passionate, but we must recognise the role that local government plays. I do not support local government being aggressive by putting preventions in place to stop live music. We must strike the right balance. The working groups have given us good evidence and I hope that the Select Committee will support us as we move forward. The hon. Member for Teignbridge asked why we do not simply implement Lord Clement-Jones' Live Music Bill. Clearly, the Bill contains similar measures to those I have announced today, and would have a stronger chance of being passed if we get all-party support and use the legislative reform order procedures. I recognise the great work done by the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff) on circuses—he has talked to me on many occasions about the problems that they face. Through the simplification plan, we have tried to help travelling circuses and we think that the electronic application form will benefit them. The decision to allow people to make late notification for low-risk temporary events where the police do not have concerns will also help circuses. That does not meet all the hon. Gentleman's requirements, but they are positive steps in the right direction. I share the Committee's concerns about form 696. Committee members and colleagues will know that the form is a matter for the Metropolitan police. I am very concerned about the application of the form and, through officials, have had discussions with ACPO and the Met. I am pleased to say that the form is to be re-presented, which we expect to happen some time soon. The form will be voluntary and is not intended to be used for live music events, which is a significant step forward. Clearly the police must find a balance in terms of their concerns, and it is right that they put things forward in a positive way, but they must do so sensitively. They need to ensure that the language of the form is correct. We have been offering advice to the Met, but as the form is its responsibility, we will wait to see what happens when the new form is published. As I have said, it is important to recognise that 696 is a voluntary form. Of course, unlike the Mayor of London, we believe that the Met is operationally independent. I understand that there have been several incidents and serious violence at some venues, therefore the right balance must be sorted out. On the issues around lap-dancing, the Home Office has released a consultation on the transitional arrangements for existing lap-dancing businesses, and we will closely examine the responses. We have talked about the annual review, but clearly if a case is made about business concerns, we will consider it. It is clear that a balance has to be struck between the rights of such businesses to exist and the needs of local people and the issues that affect them. We will therefore consult on the matter. The hon. Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford talked about the need for partnership working, and he was right to do so because the issues raised in the Committee's report affect a number of Departments. His contribution related to the Home Office, with which it is important we continue to work. The Home Office is very clear about the DCMS view on many of these issues, and we had a joint seminar on the approach of councillors and local authorities to licensing. The variance in the different guidelines given by local authorities to the bodies concerned is quite staggering. The guidelines range from being 2 inches thick to those that are more appropriate. That variation was the reason for adopting the beacon authority principle. Brighton is a good example of what can be done—people have been working together and have been flexible, both from the business and community side. There is nothing at all party political in dealing with the matter. Geoffrey Theobald has done a fantastic job in leading that side of policy. As well as his work in Brighton, he has put his comments through the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services and has worked tirelessly to try to ensure that the Act works properly. I was staggered to find that there is a Punch and Judy association. Its website states that there are myths about Punch and Judy performances and that the Licensing Act has not restricted Punch and Judy performances in any way. It is always a pleasure to respond to the Committee's welcome reports. There are issues that will continue to be discussed and that we will have to face in the future. It is with great pleasure that I have been able to respond to the Committee today, and I look forward to the further work ahead.