Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the loss of late night levies during the covid-19 outbreak on the income of Police Forces; and what steps she is taking to mitigate this loss.

The coronavirus outbreak has caused enormous disruption to all businesses, public services and to individuals across our nation. The decision whether to impose a Late Night Levy (LNL) is a matter for the relevant local authorities, as is a decision to cease applying the LNL when it comes up for renewal. The LNL is designed to support policing initiatives in the night time economy.

In April 2020 I wrote to chairs of licensing committees in England and Wales advising that licensing authorities have discretion to delay the suspension of a licence for non-payment of the levy, where this is related to Covid-19. This advice was intended to allow businesses to continue selling alcohol until they are able to pay the levy.

Any temporary loss of funding has been at a time when late night premises have been closed or operating under restrictions.