To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to remove unnecessary liquor licensing regulations. [36557]
The Licensing (Sunday Hours) Act 1995, which extends the times at which public houses, clubs and off-licensed premises may sell alcohol on Sundays, came into force on 6 August 1995.The draft Licensing (Sunday Dancing) Order, which is currently subject to Parliamentary consideration under the order making procedures in part 1 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 includes relaxations of the provisions of the Licensing Act 1964 relating to extended hours orders and special hours certificates. These relaxations will permit the sale of alcohol after the normal licensing hours at dances taking place on a Sunday.
We have also recently completed public consultation on other reforms to rationalise certain procedural aspects of the special hours certificate system, which allows the sale of alcohol beyond the normal permitted hours at places licensed for music and dancing.
In addition we plan to repeal section 165 of the Licensing Act 1964, which makes it an offence for a licensee to serve more intoxicating liquor than a customer asks for.
We are also considering the scope for deregulating other aspects of the liquor licensing system.