§ Lord Lucasasked Her Majesty's Government: What estimates they have received from local authorities, and have made themselves, of the likely costs involved in meeting the obligations under the Licensing Act 2003 and the revenues anticipated from licence fees under that Act. [HL137]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe Government's estimate of the costs of the licensing regime to be introduced in England and Wales by the Licensing Act 2003 was set out in the regulatory impact assessment published with the Licensing Bill in November 2002 and placed in the Library of the House. Representatives of local authorities have not produced any full or overall cost estimate of the regime for England and Wales, but have indicated where they believe the Government's estimate would fail to fully recover their costs. We are therefore currently considering whether our estimate requires revision in the light of the information and material provided by representatives of the local authorities. When our consideration is complete, we expect to publish a full schedule of the fees to be prescribed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport under the provisions of the 2003 Act.
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