Supplementary written evidence from the
Department for Social Development
On 3 May officials from the Department for Social
Development gave evidence to the Committee on the review of liquor
licensing law and charities legislation in Northern Ireland. In
the course of the session officials undertook to provide further
written information on a number of points.
Q425 Mr Campbell asked for information on the
scale of the problem of accounting irregularities by registered
clubs
The Registration of Clubs (Accounts) Regulations
(NI) 1997 (the Regulations) were introduced at the behest of the
Royal Ulster Constabulary to help tackle the problem at the time
of financial mismanagement and racketeering in registered clubs.
In the course of the annual checks provided for in the Regulations,
accounting irregularities have frequently been identified. However,
over the course of the past 10 years, the police have adopted
a policy of proportionate response, encouraging clubs to avoid
prosecution by improving their accounting arrangements. This has
been so successful that PSNI have reported no prosecutions in
the last five years. In 2004 PSNI acknowledged the clubs' efforts
in this area by recommending that the Department review the Regulations
with an eye to relaxing them through simplifying the auditing
requirements and replacing other mandatory requirements with a
system of guidance and best practice.
Q397 Mr Banks asked how many sales of liquor licences
took place each year
Under Northern Ireland liquor licensing law
the grant of a new public house or off-sales licence is
conditional on the surrender to the County Court of an existing
licence. The requirement does not apply if the applicant intends
to continue the same business on the same premises—but does
apply where the new licence will be used to open a pub or off-licence
elsewhere in Northern Ireland. This has generated a lucrative
private sector trade in licences. The surrender provision is unique
to the licensed trade and exists nowhere else in the UK.
In 2003 the County Courts disposed of 245 (Judicial
Statistics 2003) new licensing applications. This figure includes
all categories of licensed premises, not just those, ie pubs and
off-licences, governed by the surrender provision. Information
on individual disposals is not held centrally by the NI Courts
Service nor in a readily accessible form by each County Court.
However it is known that pubs and off-licences make up some 75%
of the licensed trade and it is reasonable to assume that this
proportion is reflected in the numbers of applications disposed
of annually. On this basis, therefore, it is likely that some
180 licences for pubs and off-sales change hands each year.
The value of licences which have been acquired
for surrender purposes has increased substantially in the past
two years. In the early 1980s liquor licences were virtually worthless.
During the Troubles, hundreds of licensed premises were destroyed
by explosions and were not re-built; licences were not in demand,
many expired and the total number of licences in circulation declined.
In the early 1990s, as greater social stability began to return,
the value of a licence gradually rose to around £40k. Later
that decade, a licence could fetch some £65k. In 2004 they
were fetching over £70k and by early 2005 had reached £90k.
Over the last 12 months the value of a licence has rocketed to
an all time high of £140k. Belfast-based company Whelan
Chartered Surveyors and Property Consultants who have long experience
handling licensed premises noted (February 2006) that in certain
circumstances much higher prices have been paid in "vicinity"
situations where potential objections would otherwise be substantial.
The company also reported a trend in the market towards the closure
and redevelopment of rural and semi-rural pubs, where it is now
often the case that the value of the site and liquor licence as
two separate entities is higher than the value of the business
as a going concern.
Q447 Ms Cooper asked whether Her Majesty's Revenue
and Customs (HMRC) would require the Charity Commission to pass
on information to the police and the Organised Crime Task Force,
should it suspect that an organisation is using charity status
as a front for organised crime
It is proposed in England and Wales that HMRC
"may" disclose information to the Charity Commission
for England and Wales, and provisions for disclosure to the Charity
Commission for Northern Ireland will be similar.
"May" is usually used in this type
of disclosure clause since a compulsory requirement with no discretion
or element of judgement:
— might compromise ongoing investigations;
and
— could involve the transfer of large
amounts of irrelevant information.
Mr John McGrath
Deputy Secretary
7 June 2006
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