Skip to main content

Licensing: Circuses

Volume 472: debated on Wednesday 20 February 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the progress of his Department's review of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on travelling circuses. (183112)

Our assessment of the impact on circuses during the first year of the Licensing Act 2003 has confirmed that circuses were able to operate under the new legislation, but faced new burdens in doing so. We have therefore included a commitment to look at options for reducing the burden for travelling entertainment and mobile forms of licensable activity as part of the DCMS Simplification Plan which was published in December 2007. We will consider how to address some of the specific issues identified in our survey of circuses when progressing simplification projects such as minor variations and adjustments to the application process.