§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with church groups and religious leaders on the impact of the proposed licensing Bill on places of public religious worship; and if she will make a statement. [93287]
§ Dr. HowellsThe White Paper "Time for Reform", published in April 2000 was the subject of a full public consultation. It was sent directly to 231 organisations and over 650 organisations produced responses. We received eight responses from religious organisations, including one from the Churches Main Committee. None of these were concerned with the proposal to licence public entertainment in churches and other places of religious worship. Since then, officials of my Department have had discussions with officials of the General Synod of the Church of England about a possible mechanism to exempt churches from licensing controls.
As I stated in the House of Commons on 16 December 2002, Official Report, column 517, the Government have made a commitment to reconsider their position on the licensing of churches and will announce their conclusions as soon as possible.