Background to the proposal
7. In April 1999, the Government laid before Parliament
a proposal for a Deregulation (New Year Licensing) Order. The
proposal would have allowed onlicensed premises and registered
clubs to sell alcohol throughout the night on every New Year's
Eve from 1999 onwards. Our predecessor Deregulation Committee
concluded that the Order should go ahead as proposed.[6]
Their colleagues in the Lords, however, concerned about the unpredictable
and unprecedented nature of the Millennium celebrations, recommended
that the proposed relaxation apply only to New Year's
Eve 1999 (the Millennium), and that a review of the arrangements
should take place before any further proposal for a permanent
relaxation of permitted hours on future New Year's
Eves was brought forward.[7]
8. In July of that year, the Government laid before
Parliament the draft Deregulation (Millennium Licensing) Order
1999. As recommended by the Lords Committee, the Order provided
for extension of permitted hours on New Year's
Eve 1999 (and New Year's
Day 2000) only. Both Committees recommended approval of the draft
Order,[8]
it was approved by both Houses, and it came into effect on 29
July 1999.
9. In accordance with the recommendation of the House
of Lords Select Committee, the Home Office reviewed the impact
of the Millennium Order on the events which took place between
31 December 1999 and 1 January 2000. The Home Office drew the
conclusions that the Millennium celebrations were successful,
that the impact of the Order was entirely beneficial, without
any significant public order incidents, and that the restriction
order provisions, though little used, worked well. However, after
taking the views of the police and the Magistrates'
Association it concluded that the Millennium celebrations were
unique and atypical; and that they could not be regarded as an
adequate trial of a normal New Year. The Government therefore
further concluded that an additional trial of extended hours on
New Year's
Eve would be necessary before any deregulation proposal was brought
forward concerning all future New Years'
Eves.[9]
10. Regrettably, no proposal was brought forward
relating to New Year's
Eve 2000. An abortive attempt was made by the Government to explore
with the Lords Committee the possibility of permitting a deregulation
order under the 1994 Act applying to New Year's
Eve that year to be made without going through the usual deregulation
procedure, but it was not until the end of October that year that
the Government concluded that such an approach would not be possible.[10]
No preparations for the making of an order applying to New Year's
Eve 2001 B
to serve as the trial referred to above B
appear to have been made until November 2000.[11]
11. A consultation paper relating both to the current
proposal and to a proposal to extend permitted hours on the occasion
of Her Majesty's
Golden Jubilee (3 June 2002) was eventually published by the Home
Office on 19 March 2001.[12]
The closing date for the consultation was
11 June 2001 (a period of 12 weeks); the Department told us that
account was taken of all representations received by and including
20 June.[13]
On 8 June responsibility for licensing, and thus for this proposal,
was transferred from the Home Office to the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport.
12. The proposal was laid before Parliament on 28
June. This was some two and a half weeks before this Committee
was established, thus effectively reducing the statutory 60 days
set down in the Act for Parliamentary consideration to just over
40. This was a highly unsatisfactory situation, and we very much
welcome the Government's
recognition that the circumstances were unique and should form
no kind of precedent.[14]
We appreciate that it was necessary to take this step in order
to ensure that any resulting Order could be brought into effect
in time for New Year. It should not, however, have been so, and
the circumstances only arose through the failure of the Department
to get its act together more timeously.
13. Inconvenience to this Committee, however, is
perhaps the least of the difficulties to which Departmental incompetence
has led. As we explain below, it brought the very practicality
of this Order into doubt, causing considerable uncertainty both
amongst licensees and amongst those local residents who have cause
to believe that extended opening hours will mean greater nuisance
associated with premises in their neighbourhood. The Department's
attempts to explain why this proposal was brought forward so late
were wholly unconvincing.[15]
Given its long history, there is no good reason whatsoever why
the consultation should not have taken place and the proposal
put before Parliament at a much earlier stage. Bearing in mind
particularly the proposal which will have to be brought forward
if licencing hours are to be relaxed on the occasion of Her Majesty's
Golden Jubilee next year, we very strongly recommend that DCMS
make every possible effort to ensure that any future proposals
are laid before the House well in advance of the dates to which
they are intended to apply.
6 Third Report from the Deregulation
Committee, Session 1998/99 (HC532). Back
7 Eighteenth Report from the
Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee, Session 1998/99 (HL73). Back
8 Fourth Report from the Deregulation
Committee, Session 1998/99 (HC 710); Twenty-fourth Report from
the Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee, Session 1998/99. Back
9 Explanatory Statement, para
13. Back
10 HC Deb, 26 Oct 2000, col
204W; Appendix 3, para 30. Back
11 Appendix 2, paras 30, 31. Back
12 Liquor Licencing Deregulation:
Consultation on Licencing Hours for New Year's Eve 2001 and during
Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee in June 2002, Home Office, March
2001. Back
13 Explanatory
Statement, para 16. Back
14 Appendix 2,
para 34. Back
15 Appendix 2,
paras 29B34; Q2. Back
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