HC Deb 02 February 2000 vol 343 c592W
Mr. Blizzard

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the timetable is for the implementation of his proposal to legalise Sunday dancing. [107613]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

On 17 January, we laid before Parliament a draft Deregulation Order to remove the ban on commercial dancing on Sundays. The draft Order is now subject to the usual process of scrutiny by the Parliamentary Deregulation Committees, and approval by both Houses. That process is likely to take until the summer. If approved, the ban on Sunday dancing would be lifted three months later, to allow time for applications to trade on Sundays to be heard.