Licensing Hours (Hansard, 26 October 2000)

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien

New Year's Eve is regarded as a special occasion and licensing justices and the magistrates' courts may, on receipt of application, grant special orders of exemption under the Licensing Act 1964, allowing licensed premises and registered members' clubs to remain open beyond the normal permitted hours. There is no limit on the extension which may be granted. This has been the practice on every New Year's Eve in the years before the Millennium. All licensees and registered members' clubs wishing to apply for extensions should do so as soon as possible.

This year 31 December falls on a Sunday. Permitted hours for pubs, nightclubs, restaurants and registered members' clubs in England and Wales on a Sunday normally end at 10.30 pm. The Magistrates' Association and the Justices' Clerks' Society have jointly issued guidance to the licensing justices and magistrates' courts suggesting that an extension to 12.30 am on New Year's Day morning would normally be appropriate. Magistrates will be able to determine what is appropriate for their local area and may determine a later time. Where extensions are granted, this will help people to enjoy a festive New Year as they have done in the past under similar procedures.

Because of the unique nature of last year's Millennium celebrations, permitted hours were extended nationally by amending the Licensing Act 1964 using a deregulation order, approved by Parliament, which came into force in July 1999. The Government had originally proposed applying this arrangement to all future New Year's Eves, but limited it to Millennium Eve after concerns expressed by the House of Lords Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee. The Millennium arrangements worked well; and the Government wanted to make a further deregulation order for this New Year's Eve, to provide a more typical test of the national extension. But in March the Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee said in its Ninth Report (1999–2000 Parliamentary session, 15 March 2000) that they would be highly unlikely to support any further licensing deregulation ahead of general licensing reform. To bring an appropriate deregulation order into force before next New Year's Eve, under the timescales dictated by the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 for mandatory public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny, would have required the Government to initiate the process by the end of March. In July, the Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee agreed to give consideration to a further proposal in respect of New Year's Eve. By then it was too late, consistent with the requirements of the 1994 Act, to bring forward a similar order which could come into effect for this New Year's Eve. In reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Mr. Pike) on 20 July 2000, Official Report, column 329W, I made it clear that the timescales for statutory public consultation and the subsequent parliamentary process were dictated by the 1994 Act, and it was now unlikely that the process could be completed in time for next New Year. We examined whether, with the co-operation of the Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee and colleagues in both Houses, it was possible to obtain an Order in shorter time than that initially envisaged. We concluded that if we had done so it would have been open to legal challenge with an uncertain outcome. We have therefore decided against taking that course. We intend, however, to prepare such an order to 205W apply to New Year's Eve next year, which will then provide a further test of the success of a standard national exemption.

We remain wholly committed to the general reform of licensing law as described in the White Paper "Time for Reform", published in April this year, which would include provision for the Secretary of State to set appropriate opening times nationally for licensed premises for any special national celebrations.