My Lords, there are six amendments in my name in this group; in moving Amendment 70A I will speak to the others. Before I do so, given the nature of the discussion that we will have on this and the following group of amendments, I will make a few general comments about the Government’s general approach to alcohol strategy. I am most concerned that there does not seem to be a coherent approach to evidence-based strategy, as the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, said a moment ago. That is what is missing here. We have a pattern of implementing piecemeal change, which does not have a significant impact on the problems that the Government freely admit need to be addressed. What we really need, and as my amendments address, is a wide review of the licensing system, not randomly to amend various sections of the licensing regime.
We have to recognise that most people drink responsibly. Probably a few of us will have a glass of wine or beer tonight before we retire. Most people can enjoy a drink without causing harm, nuisance or distress to others, or an unnecessary drain on public expenditure. However, there are others, who, because of the amount and way that they drink, cause significant harm to themselves and to others. The challenge for government—indeed, for all of us—is to effect such change that will impact on the behaviour of those who cause and have caused significant problems, without unfairly impacting on responsible and reasonable drinkers.
The Government’s alcohol strategy has done very little to target the problems caused by significant problem drinking. Nearly 1 million violent crimes linked to alcohol still happen every year. The Prime Minister promised,
“a real effort to get to grips with the root cause”
of alcohol problems, with a strategy that attacked alcohol harms “from every angle”. The Home Secretary promised a minimum unit price for alcohol. I will not go into detail because we will come to that later. She said—no ifs, no buts—that it would be introduced. That seems to have changed and there is no immediate plan. I think the phrase that is often used when something is on the backburner or in the long grass is “under review”.
When the Government brought in new licensing conditions that alcohol could not be sold below the permitted price—I have spoken on that order in your Lordships’ House on two occasions this year—they were seriously criticised by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee for overselling the impact that it would have. In reality, the impact was about a reduction in consumption of alcohol of one glass of wine per person per year. An awful lot of work went into getting a reduction of one glass of wine per person per year. The impact assessment that the Government submitted had to be withdrawn and a new one resubmitted. One of the reasons for that was that the Government put the benefits at £17 million a year when, in fact, the figure was nearer to £1 million—and I think the evidence for that £1 million was somewhat woolly. Therefore, the challenge of affecting harmful behaviour without impacting on responsible behaviour has not yet been met. Our amendments are intended to be helpful in seeking to address that challenge, which we appreciate is difficult.
3.45 pm
Our Amendment 70A seeks a review of licensing legislation. It calls for a comprehensive review across government departments of all legislation relating to local authority licensing with a view to streamlining that process. To be clear, under the Licensing Act 2003, there are four licensable activities: the sale of alcohol; the supply of alcohol; the provision of regulated entertainment; and the provision of late-night refreshment. Licensing authorities are responsible for issuing and enforcing licences, and must do so to promote the four statutory licensing objectives: preventing crime and disorder; preventing public nuisance; public safety and preventing children suffering harm.
Well over 150 licences, permits, consents and registrations are issued by councils and many more are issued by government and its agencies. A business establishing even a standard business model can be required by law to submit numerous licence applications relating to the same premises and containing overlapping information to different parts of the relevant council. For example, a small restaurant could be required to apply for up to eight or nine different licences or registrations. At the other end of the scale, some large businesses have had to employ a dedicated person to keep track of the different renewal dates that their multiple licences require. That is costly and
burdensome and detracts from their core focus of serving customers, growing their business and supporting the economy.
One of the main barriers to streamlining those licensing processes is that some legislation—most notably, the Licensing Act 2003—requires that councils use the application forms set out in regulations. I am getting into my flow but I see that the noble Lord wants to intervene.