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These notes refer to the Licensing (Young Persons) Bill Licensing (Young Persons) Bill
EXPLANATORY NOTESINTRODUCTION1. These explanatory notes relate to the Licensing (Young Persons) Bill as introduced in the House of Commons on 13 January 1999. They have been provided by the Home Office with the consent of Chris McCafferty, the Member in charge of the Bill, in order to assist the reader of the Bill and to help inform debate on it. They do not form part of the Bill and have not been endorsed by Parliament.
2. The notes need to be read in conjunction with the Bill. They are not, and are not meant to be, a comprehensive description of the Bill. So where a clause or part of a clause does not seem to require any explanation or comment, none is given.
SUMMARY3. The Bill amends the law in England and Wales relating to the sale and consumption of intoxicating liquor in cases involving young people under the age of 18. The amendments cover three areas:
BACKGROUNDSelling to a person under 184. Section 169(1) of the Licensing Act 1964 ("the 1964 Act") makes it an offence for a licensee or his "servant" (ie. his employee) to sell alcohol to a person under 18 in licensed premises; for a licensee knowingly to allow another person to sell alcohol to a person under 18; and for a licensee or his "servant" knowingly to allow a person under 18 to consume alcohol in a bar in licensed premises. Current business practice often means that those selling alcohol are neither the licensee nor his employee - for example, they may be employed directly by a company which runs a chain of off-licences or pubs. Where this is the case and the employee makes a sale to a person under 18, the employee does not commit an offence and therefore cannot be prosecuted.
5. The Government gave a public commitment in November 1998 to legislate to ensure that anyone who sells alcohol to a person under 18 commits an offence.
Purchase on behalf of a person under 186. It is an offence under section 169(3) of the 1964 Act to purchase alcohol for consumption by a person under 18 in a bar in licensed premises. It is not an offence, however, to purchase alcohol on behalf of a person under 18 for consumption anywhere else. This allows under-18s to obtain alcohol by asking an adult, for example an older brother or friend, to purchase it on their behalf from an off-licence.
7. The Government gave a public commitment in July 1997 to introduce an offence of purchasing alcohol on behalf of under-18s, as part of its strategy to tackle under-age alcohol misuse. A similar offence already exists in Scotland under section 68(3) of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976.
Test purchases8. Test purchases involve the police or trading standards officers using under-18s to make purchases of age-restricted products in order to test retailers' compliance with the law on under-age sales. Unlike in the case of other age-restricted goods, it is not only an offence to sell alcohol to under-18s (section 169(1) of the 1964 Act), it is also an offence for under-18s to purchase it (section 169(2)). In addition, it is an offence to send an under-18 to obtain alcohol sold in licensed premises for off-premise consumption (section 169(6)). Doubt has therefore been expressed about the legitimacy of test purchases of alcohol.
9. The Home Office consulted interested parties in 1996 on whether to clarify the law to put the legality of test purchases of alcohol beyond doubt. There was widespread support for this. The case for clarification was also pressed in 1997 when the Government was looking at alcohol misuse by under-18s. The Government gave a public commitment in July 1997 to clarify the law.
THE BILL10. The Bill substitutes new provisions for section 169 of the 1964 Act. The new provisions:
COMMENTARY ON CLAUSES11. Clause 1 of the Bill substitutes nine new sections for section 169 of the 1964 Act.
12. New section 169A makes it an offence for any person in licensed premises to sell alcohol to someone under 18. Currently, under section 169(1), only the licensee or his "servant" can commit this offence. There are defences available depending upon whether a person is charged by reason of his own act, or the act or default of another.
13. New section 169B makes it an offence for a person in licensed premises, if he works in the licensed premises in a capacity, whether paid or unpaid, which gives him authority to prevent the sale, knowingly to allow another person to sell alcohol to a person under 18. Currently, under section 169(1), only the licensee can commit this offence. The new section provides no defence to the offence.
14. New section 169C introduces an offence of purchasing alcohol in licensed premises on behalf of someone under 18. The section also maintains the offence currently contained in section 169(3) of purchasing alcohol for consumption in a bar in licensed premises by a person under 18. In both cases no offence is committed if the person proves that he had no reason to suspect that the person was under 18.
15. New section 169D retains the offence under section 169(2) for a person under 18 to buy, or attempt to buy, alcohol in licensed premises. However, section 169D(2) provides an exception where the person under 18 is acting at the request of a police constable or a trading standards officer.
16. New section 169E maintains the exception provided by section 169(4) (where the person under 18 is at least 16 and the sale or purchase is of certain kinds of alcohol for consumption at a meal in certain parts of licensed premises). The exception also applies to the new section 169C offence of purchasing on behalf of an under-18.
17. New section 169F retains the offence under section 169(2) for a person under 18 to consume alcohol in a bar in licensed premises. It also makes it an offence for a person in licensed premises, if he works in the licensed premises in a capacity, whether paid or unpaid, which gives him authority to prevent the consumption, knowingly to allow a person under 18 to consume alcohol in a bar. Currently, under section 169(1), only the licensee or his "servant" can commit the latter offence. The new section provides no defence to the offence.
18. New section 169G makes it an offence for a person who works in licensed premises, whether paid or unpaid, knowingly to deliver alcohol to a person under 18 where the alcohol is sold in the licensed premises for off-premise consumption. It is also an offence for a person, who works in the licensed premises in a capacity, whether paid or unpaid, which gives him authority to prevent the delivery, knowingly to allow such a delivery by any person. Currently, under section 169(5), only the licensee or his "servant" can commit the "delivery" offence and only the licensee can commit the "allowing delivery" offence. Section 169(7) currently provides an exception where the person under 18 is a member of the licensee's family or his servant or apprentice and is employed as a messenger to deliver alcohol; this exception is extended by the Bill to cover anyone under 18 working in the licensed premises in a capacity, whether paid or unpaid, which includes the delivery of alcohol.
19. New section 169H maintains the offence of knowingly sending a person under 18 to obtain alcohol sold or to be sold in licensed premises for off-premise consumption (section 169(6)), but provides an exemption for police constables and trading standards officers acting in the course of their duty. The section 169(7) exception for messenger boys has been similarly extended as in new section 169G.
20. New section 169I applies the penalties for an offence under section 169 to the new offences under sections 169A to 169H. The maximum fine is level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1,000). The power to forfeit licences formerly contained in section 169(8) has been adapted to apply to the offences under the new sections. Convictions for offences under section 169, as well as convictions for offences under the new sections, will count for the purposes of triggering the power to forfeit.
21. Clause 2 makes consequential amendments, adapting references to the existing offences, defences and penalty provisions so as to reflect the new ones.
FINANCIAL EFFECTS OF THE BILL22. Test purchases can be an effective means of enforcement and, where they are not presently used, they could result in more under-age sales being detected. However, it is expected that prosecutions would happen only after warnings had been given, and the number of additional prosecutions is not expected to be large.
23. The offence of purchasing alcohol on behalf of a person under 18 would give rise to more prosecutions. Although the offence already exists under Scottish law, statistics on prosecutions are not available. However, the numbers would not be large, probably under 40 a year.
24. Widening the definition of those who may commit the offence of selling alcohol to under-18s would also mean an increase in prosecutions. The Government is aware of only a few cases where prosecution has not been possible under existing law. The increase in prosecutions is therefore likely to be very small.
EFFECTS OF THE BILL ON PUBLIC SERVICE MANPOWER25. The main purpose of the Bill is to deter sales of alcohol to under-18s. There is likely to be a small increase in prosecutions for offences under the new sections, with consequent resource implications for the police, Crown Prosecution Service and the courts, but there are also likely to be some compensatory savings in these areas if fewer young people break the law as a consequence of obtaining alcohol unlawfully.
SUMMARY OF THE REGULATORY IMPACT ASSESSMENT26. No Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared as the Bill would impose only a negligible cost on business.
COMMENCEMENT27. The Bill will come into force two months from the day it is passed.
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| © Parliamentary copyright 1999 | Prepared: 1 April 1999 |