Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of reforming the licence review process for off-licenses.

The Licensing Act 2003 provides licensing authorities with significant powers of review where problems associated with the licensing objectives occur, including those relating to the four licensing objectives: the prevention of crime and disorder; public safety; the prevention of public nuisance; and the protection of children from harm.

Under Section 51 of the Act, a responsible authority, or any other person, may ask a licensing authority to review a licence because of a matter arising at the premises in connection with any of the four licensing objectives.

Where a licensing authority considers that action under its statutory powers is appropriate, it may take any of the following steps:

• modify the conditions of the premises licence (which includes adding new conditions or any alteration or omission of an existing condition);
• exclude a licensable activity from the scope of the licence:
• remove the designated premises supervisor;
• suspend the licence for a period not exceeding three months, or;
• revoke the licence.

In March this year a Licensing Taskforce was commissioned to undertake a rapid review of the Licensing Act 2003, to explore how we may ‘deliver a more proportionate, consistent and transparent licensing regime’. The report of that review will be published in due course. We keep the Licensing Act under careful review and will consider any relevant recommendations that arise from this review.