Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will increase the licensing enforcement powers available to local authorities to ensure that pubs do not act as clubs without permission.

Karen Bradley

Licensing authorities and the police already have a range of enforcement powers under the Licensing Act 2003. These are sufficient to prevent pubs operating without relevant permissions. These include powers which licensing authorities have to impose conditions on a premises licence or revoke a premises licence where appropriate. They are responsible for making decisions based on what is appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives. These are the prevention of crime and disorder; public safety; the prevention of public nuisance; and the protection of children from harm.

Licensable activities include not only the sale of alcohol but also regulated entertainment such as a performance of live music and any playing of recorded music among other entertainments. While the rules on regulated entertainment on licensed premises were recently relaxed so that permission is only required for such events when they occur outside the hours of 08.00 and 23.00 or when there are more than 500 people in attendance, an applicant for a premises licence should set out in an operating schedule the licensable activities they intend to hold on the premises.