Memorandum from the Cinema Exhibitors'
Association (CEA) (RL 02)
1. The CEA is the trade association for
UK cinema operators. It represents over 90% of cinema operators
in the UK measured by companies or market share. Within the membership
are multi-national operators, UK circuits, owner/managed sites,
locally subsidised cinemas and art houses. It is a very wide membership
base. There are approximately 640 full time cinema sites in the
UK the greater majority being in England and Wales all of which
were required because of the Licensing Act 2003 to convert their
cinema licence issued under the Cinemas Act 1985 into a Premises
Licence. The definition of an "exhibition of a film"
which is one of the categories for regulated entertainment means
any exhibition of moving pictures therefore the premises where
film exhibition as a regulated entertainment requiring licensing
under the 2003 Act is much wider than the general perception of
a cinema.
2. CEA participated fully in the DCMS's
advisory group and the four sub-groups that were subsequently
created during the Bills preparation and passage through parliament.
It is strongly believed that participation in the working group
provided the opportunity to identify potential administrative
areas where clarity of the Government's policy intentions required
further work in either the drafting of the Bill, Statutory Instruments
or Guidance. The retail of alcohol and the potential consequences
of this retail activity was the dominant factor from the original
White Paper, the drafting of the Bill and Guidance. The working
groups were able to identify unforeseen administrative consequences
for other licensable activities if some rules imposed for the
control of the retail of alcohol were to be imposed on all licensable
activities. The advisory/working groups and the CEA's opinion
undoubtedly assisted Government in achieving its policy objectives
whilst avoiding unforeseen consequences of applying rules to all
licensable activities where they were inappropriate.
3. Legislation, which has been in place
for some time, builds up a reservoir of knowledge of its application,
operation and for licensing matters, how the appropriate licensing
forms are to be built in by the applicant. The form for the Licence
to claim Grandfather Rights and seek variations during the transition
period was new for all, both the applicant and local licensing
authority. The process of application was designed to enable the
licensing authority to judge the merits of the four licensing
principles. The emphasis in achieving the four licensing principles
was a new "concept" moving away from the prescriptive
licensing regimes of the past. The necessity to re-educate the
licence applicant in the new concept of risk assessment and the
objectives of the Licensing Act 2003 was paramount. In March 2005,
for the completion of the form and to seek variations, CEA produced
guidance. It was necessary to link the new Act with concepts from
previous legislation and to encourage the understanding of the
underlying principles of the new legislation. CEA issued regular
updates. This was necessary though it would have been advantageous
to CEA members and I am sure the enforcing authorities if procedures
and especially the fee levels, had been settled prior to the First
Appointed Day, in February. The guidance, if policy were to have
been settled, would have been issued earlier.
CEA conducted 23 days of Workshops throughout
England and Wales to brief members on the impact of the Licensing
Act 2003 and how completion of the form should be tackled taking
into account their own individual circumstances. The Workshops
were popular with the smaller operators—larger operators'
solicitors were contacted and one-to-one discussions on the approach
to completion of the forms took place. The pooling of information
was advantageous to members as a consistency of approach to completion
of the application form was developed. The points of potential
contention identified were discussed with LACORS who also had
sight and an opportunity to comment on the draft guidance. The
guidance issued by DCMS was naturally geared towards the main
market that the Licensing Act 2003 was initially drafted for namely
alcohol sales. The regular newsletters issued by DCMS "Count
Down", were also initially geared to the main market. A great
deal of effort was put in to try to alert those businesses that
probably had little contact with mainstream organisations, local
councils or Government. For film exhibition though we are in contact
with over 90% of regular cinemas we arranged for occasional bookers
of cinematographic film to be contacted directly if a film had
been booked over the last two years and arranged with distributors
to put warning notices in film print cans about the imminent approach
of 6 August in deliveries in July. Similar innovative methods
were used by DCMS.
Generally I believe that Government, local licensing
authorities and trade associations made every effort to inform
potential licensees of the imminent approach of the First Appointed
Day, 6 August, and Second Appointed Day—24 November. One
can always say that one could have done better but on balance
I believe a reasonable job was done. The major reason that a reasonable
outcome was achieved was because of the working groups that sat
during the preparation and passage of the Bill that achieved a
well-educated body of people who were able to disseminate the
critical information to greater numbers.
4. One area where I believe that the educational
process fell short was in the area of informing local licensing
authorities prior to the production of their draft licensing policy
documents. These documents were being produced during the passage
of the Bill and in some cases the documents presumed too much
and went beyond the authority granted by the Act. This caused
those commenting on the documents substantial expenditure of time
which could probably have been better spent preparing potential
licensees for the transitional period. A major lesson that we
can learn is that when there are tight deadlines the underlying
legislation must be settled before preparatory work is undertaken.
5. Generally speaking, as far as cinemas
are concerned, the transitional period has gone well. CEA is aware
of very few cases where anything has gone dreadfully wrong. There
have of course, as with all new legislation, been discussions
between the potential licensee and the local licensing authority
but generally these conversations have been brought to a satisfactory
conclusion for both parties. Some authorities appear to have been
over zealous where variations have been sought anticipating the
review procedures laid down in the Act which we think is a pity.
We strongly believe that unless strong representations were made
that variations sought should have been granted in full and the
review procedures issued. If any of the licensing objectives were
subsequently breached the representative bodies have the right
to request a review.
6. The conversion of the numerous licences
into one Premises Licence was a huge task. It has demanded commitment
from many people and organisations. Certain bodies have used the
exercise as an excuse to pursue particular hobbyhorses. On balance
the exercise has been a reasonable success.
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