Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31048 on Licensing Laws, what the evidential basis is that a unified consent regime for pavement licences did not prove workable.

In March 2024 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government made permanent changes to streamline applications for pavement licenses. In May 2024 the Home Office consulted on options to make permanent its existing temporary measures to streamline applications for alcohol licenses where a pavement licence is in effect. The Home Office published its analysis of responses in February 2025 and concluded that it would not take forward any of the options proposed and would instead allow temporary streamlining to end as of 31 March 2025.