Appendix 10
Letters from the Clerk of the Committee to the
Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association, the Federation of
Licensed Victuallers Associations, The British Institute of Innkeeping
and the National Parliamentary Committee, Licensed Victuallers
Association (dated 20 July 2001)
Proposal for the Regulatory Reform (Special Occasions
Licencing) Order 2001
I understand that you have previously responded to
the Government's
consultation on the above Regulatory Reform proposal, which is
intended to relax licencing hours on New Years'
Eve this year.
The proposal was laid before Parliament on 28 June.
It now falls to the relevant Parliamentary committees to examine
it. The House of Commons Deregulation and Regulatory Reform Committee
considered the proposal for the first time at its meeting last
Tuesday.
Due to the timetable for Parliamentary scrutiny laid
down in the Regulatory Reform Act, under which this proposal has
been laid before Parliament, it would not be possible for the
Order to come into effect until, at the earliest, early to mid-December.
As a result, the Committee is in some doubt as to the practical
value of the proposal to the licensed trade. It seems unlikely
that licensees would wait until such a late stage before making
the necessary arrangements for opening on New Year's
Eve, and that most would therefore already have applied for special
orders of exemption before the order came into effect.
The Committee would be grateful for your opinion
as to whether this is the case, and if so, whether in the circumstances
the proposal retains any practical value.
| 
