§ Mr. PikeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he plans in respect of extending licensing hours on new year's eve 2000–01. [130946]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienWe still hope to have made a deregulation order under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 to reduce the present restrictions on Sunday dancing in time to be of benefit for the coming new year's eve. Such an order, as well as removing the statutory ban on commercial dancing, would give licensing justices the power in appropriate cases to extend permitted drinking hours on Sunday nights on licensed premises providing entertainment in the form of music or dancing.
So far as other licensed premises are concerned, any extension of permitted hours nationally would need a separate deregulation order under the 1994 Act. The timescales for statutory public consultation and the subsequent parliamentary process are dictated by the 1994 Act, and it is now unlikely that the process could be completed in time for next new year.
Under existing licensing law, it remains the case that any holder of a justices' on-licence may apply to the licensing justices in his or her area for a special order of exemption extending permitted hours during a special occasion such as new year's eve.