Licensing - consultation but...
Roger Gall
On 8th December the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced a new
public consultation on measures to cut licensing red tape:
http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/consultations/6498.aspx
The consultation includes proposals to allow last minute applications for a
Temporary Event Notice (TEN), three working days before the actual event.
The present limit is 10 working days. See trade press coverage (The
Publican):
http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=7&storycode=65965&c=1
But there is still no sign of the consultation on a new exemption for live
music in small venues announced by licensing minister Gerry Sutcliffe in
Parliament on 22nd October:
http://news.parliament.uk/2009/10/westminster-hall-debate-on-the-licensing-act/
[follow links to Hansard debate transcript]
In press interviews, Sutcliffe repeatedly claimed that the government wanted
to act 'very quickly' on the small venue exemption, and on Tuesday 10th
November, actually claimed this would be 'done before the election':
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/8352682.stm
[BBC Daily Politics, 10/11/09, key quotes from about 3'45" minutes onwards]
Sources close to the minister suggest that resistance to speedy
implementation is coming not only from the usual suspects (local authorities
and police), but also from senior licensing civil servants. This despite
the fact that the DCMS licensing team and ministers have been making public
announcements about the intention to hold a small venue exemption
consultation since 2007.
In his BBC Daily Politics interview of 10th November, Sutcliffe also said
that his department had written to opposition parties about his small venues
exemption proposal. But it would seem these letters have yet to be
received.
ENDS