§ Mr. WoodTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the budget of magistrates' courts for administration of licensing will be transferred to local authorities when responsibility for the work is transferred [137313]
§ Mr. LeslieOn 10 July 2003, the Licensing Act received Royal Assent. The Act will transfer responsibility for the administration of licenses from the magistrates' courts to local authorities.
Under current arrangements, the principle is that the cost to magistrates' courts of the administration of licensing is covered by the licensing fees charged. As such, there is no separate budget in the magistrates' 275W courts that is allocated to licensing that could be transferred to local authorities. The intention of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who have overall responsibility for the Act, is that a similar system will operate after the transfer of responsibility. I understand that licensing fees will be set at a level that will folly cover the administration, inspection and enforcement costs incurred by local authorities in relation to licensing.