The Licensing Act 2003

HOUSE OF LORDS Select Committee on the Licensing Act 2003 Report of Session 2016–17 The Licensing Act 2003: post-legislative scrutiny Ordered to be printed 21 March 2017 and published 4 April 2017 Published by the Authority of the House of Lords HL Paper 146 Select Committee on the Licensing Act 2003 The Select Committee on the Licensing Act 2003 was appointed by the House of Lords on 25 May 2016 to consider and report on the Licensing Act 2003. Membership The Members of the Select Committee were: Lord Blair of Boughton Baroness Grender Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Lord Hayward (resigned 5 September 2016) Lord Clement-Jones (resigned 14 June 2016) Baroness Henig Lord Davies of Stamford Lord Mancroft Baroness Eaton (appointed 13 September 2016) Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Chairman) Lord Foster of Bath (appointed 14 June 2016) Lord Smith of Hindhead Baroness Goudie Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Declaration of interests See Appendix 1. A full list of Members’ interests can be found in the Register of Lords’ Interests: http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-interests/register-of-lords- interests Publications All publications of the Committee are available at: http://www.parliament.uk/licensing-act-committee Parliament Live Live coverage of debates and public sessions of the Committee’s meetings are available at: http://www.parliamentlive.tv Further information Further information about the House of Lords and its Committees, including guidance to witnesses, details of current inquiries and forthcoming meetings is available at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords Committee staff The staff who worked on this inquiry were Michael Collon (Clerk), Tansy Hutchinson and Ben Taylor (Policy Analysts) and Andrew Woollatt and Joanne Jaques (Committee Assistants). Contact details All correspondence should be addressed to the Select Committee on the Licensing Act 2003, Committee Office, House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW. Telephone 020 7219 4384. Email [email protected] CONTENTS Page Summary 4 Chapter 1: Introduction 7 Constitution and Terms of Reference of the Committee 7 Chapter 2: The Act—an overall perspective 11 Introduction 11 The Act: Background 11 Outline of the provisions of the Act 12 Subsequent amendments to the Act 16 Changes in outlets and consumption 18 Figure 1: Number of licences, England and Wales, 2007–2016 19 Box 1: Outlets for the sale of alcohol as at 31 March 2016 19 Figure 2: Total volume and per adult levels of pure alcohol clearances, UK, 1992/93–2012/13 21 Alcohol policy, licensing policy and health 22 Figure 3: Age-standardised alcohol-related death rates per 100,000 population, UK, 1994–2014 23 An overall impression 29 Box 2: Overall assessments of the Act 30 Chapter 3: The Licensing Process 32 Introduction 32 Are licensing committees working? 32 Integration of licensing and planning 36 Licensing and planning committee structures compared 38 Integration: the views of witnesses 40 A single licensing and planning panel? 41 Would a change impose a burden on local authorities? 42 Our conclusion 44 Chapter 4: Appeals 45 The appellate system for licensing cases 45 Box 3: The lack of precedent 49 Comparable appellate structures 51 Transferring licensing appeals to planning inspectors 52 An additional burden? 54 Our conclusion 55 Chapter 5: Immediate Changes 56 Introduction 56 Licensing committees 56 Licensing hearings 58 Box 4: Extract from the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/44 59 Licensing appeals 61 Notification of applications 62 Coordination between the Licensing and Planning Systems 63 Chapter 6: The Licensing Objectives 65 Health and well-being 66 Enjoyment of licensable activities 68 Access to licensed premises for disabled people 69 Disabled access: an alternative 71 Chapter 7: The Off-Trade 73 Introduction 73 Figure 4: Volume of pure alcohol sold in England & Wales: proportion sold through the on-trade and off-trade, 1994–2015 73 Figure 5: Premises Licences by Type, 2008–2016 74 Super-strength schemes 77 Box 5: Carlsberg’s 30 April 2015 update on its Responsibility Deal Pledge 79 Box 6: Examples of super-strength schemes currently in operation 80 Group Review Intervention Powers (GRIPs) 82 Restrictions on off-trade alcohol retailing in Scotland 83 Chapter 8: Temporary Event Notices 86 Introduction 86 Community versus commercial uses of TENs 87 Other issues 91 Community and Ancillary Sellers’ Notices (CANs) 93 Chapter 9: Crime, Disorder and Public Safety 95 Introduction 95 Figure 6: Violent incidents where the victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, year ending March 2006 to year ending March 2015, England and Wales 95 Policing 96 Cumulative Impact Policy 101 Police closure powers, and powers of summary review 103 Box 7: The restricted effect of a closure notice 105 Chapter 10: The Night-Time Economy 109 Introduction 109 Early Morning Restriction Orders 112 Late Night Levies 116 Table 1: Late Night Levy fees 117 Business Improvement Districts and voluntary schemes 124 Chapter 11: Live Music 128 Introduction 128 Box 8: Regulated Entertainment 129 Live Music Act 2012 129 Box 9: Licensing trends associated with the Live Music Act 2012 130 Box 10: Mechanisms for protecting local residents in live-music related cases 132 ‘Agent of Change’ principle 133 Chapter 12: Fees and Fee Multipliers 136 Licensing fees 136 Fee multipliers 138 Table 2: Application Fees 139 Table 3: Annual Charges 139 The EU Services Directive 140 Chapter 13: Other Matters of Importance 144 Application systems 144 National Database of Personal Licence Holders 145 Suspension of licences for non-payment of business rates 146 Clubs 147 Box 11: The Five Qualifying Conditions for Clubs 147 Sales of alcohol airside and portside 149 Sale of alcohol to a person who is drunk 152 Summary of conclusions and recommendations 154 Appendix 1: List of Members and declarations of interest 162 Appendix 2: List of Witnesses 164 Appendix 3: Call for evidence 174 Appendix 4: Note of visit to Southwark Council Licensing Committee 177 Appendix 5: Acronyms 182 Evidence is published online at http://www.parliament.uk /licensing-act- committee and available for inspection at the Parliamentary Archives (020 7219 3074). Q in footnotes refers to a question in oral evidence. 4 The LiceNsiNG Act 2003: post-legislatiVE scrutiNY SUMMARY The Licensing Act 2003 revolutionised the law governing the sale of alcohol. It came into force in November 2005 and has therefore been in force for 11 years. In that time hardly a year has gone by without major amendments to the Act, and it is therefore ripe for post-legislative scrutiny. Alcohol, in moderation, can enhance community cohesion. In excess, it is harmful to the health of the consumer and can damage the community. The state has a duty to ensure that alcohol is sold only at appropriate premises, by those who are alive to their responsibilities to customers and the community alike. For five hundred years the licensing of persons and premises was the task of justices of the peace. Those who devised the new policy in 2000 thought, rightly, that this was not a task for the judiciary but for local administration. If they had looked to see how local authorities regulate the responsible use of land in other situations, they would have seen that the planning system, already well established and usually working efficiently, was well placed to take on this additional task. Instead the legislation established new licensing committees for each of 350 local authorities. The councillors sitting on these new committees, and the staff assisting them, had no experience of the complex new law they were administering. Our evidence shows that, while most members of licensing committees no doubt attempt to apply the law justly and fairly, too often standards fall short. Many councillors have insufficient training; all should undertake compulsory training. We were told of cases of clear inadequacies in fulfilling their functions, resulting in a haphazard decision-making process. The planning system has its detractors, but planning committees are well established, with better support from experienced staff. Our main recommendation is that there should be a trial merger of licensing committees with planning committees. To be clear, we are not recommending a merger of licensing law and planning law; we are suggesting that the councillors who sit on planning committees, using the same procedure and practice and with the same support as they already have, should deal with proceedings under the Licensing Act in the same way that they already deal with planning legislation. Appeals from decisions of licensing committees now go to the same magistrates who, until 2005, dealt with the applications. This not only defies logic; it leads to unsatisfactory results, as many of our witnesses have testified. Planning appeals go to inspectors who have the training for this, and for whom this is a full time job. We recommend that they should hear licensing appeals as well. Since 2005 there has been a gradual but significant decrease in crime committed by persons under the influence of alcohol. It has been accompanied by amending legislation greatly increasing the powers of police: among them closure powers, and powers of summary and expedited review. We do not dispute that in some cases police will need those powers, but they must be accompanied by appropriate safeguards when the livelihood of the licensee is at risk. There is already case law showing that the police powers are not as far-reaching as they think. The police should not exceed their powers, and magistrates must be given better supervision of the exercise of those powers. The LiceNsiNG Act 2003: post-legislatiVE scrutiNY 5 Another major change has been in the proportion of sales by the off-trade. In 1994, 58% of alcohol was sold by the on-trade and 42% by the off-trade.

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