Downing Street Says » Licensing Laws

Asked about the number of people who attended hospital A & E departments due to excessive alcohol consumption and how this would be affected by a change in UK licensing laws, the PMS pointed out that these questions had been raised in the Daily Mail which had claimed that information on these issues was being suppressed by the Government. In fact the figures, which Professor Drummond had referred to, had been published in the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy paper in March last year. The figures could be found on page 36 of that paper. These figures had also been included in the Public Health White Paper, published in November by the Department of Health. The Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy paper had given a lot of information about problems that arose as a result of problem drinking. However the new proposals were not primarily about 24 hour drinking, but rather about greater flexibility in licensing laws. They included staggering closing times to reduce flash points, which the Police have found to be a problem. She reminded journalists that safeguards had also been introduced in the Bill. It was important to focus on these safeguards which included; extending Police powers to close down premises which were disorderly; making it easier for the Police and local residents to object to licences; and increased penalties for breaching licensing conditions. Questioned further about the message the Government was sending, the PMS said that as Tessa Jowell had stated previously, the Government only expected about 1% of public houses to apply for extensions to their existing licences. We were talking about flexibility so that people who might wish to go for a drink after an evening’s entertainment could do so. At the same time the Government was well aware of the problems associated with drinking in some city centres. That was why there were safeguards included in the Bill which would prevent some of these problems, particularly through introducing extra measures to safeguard local residents if they had concerns.

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» Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Licensing Laws

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