To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many closure notices have been issued under section 169A of the Licensing Act 2003 for persistently selling alcohol to children. (226019)

The offence only came into force on 7 April 2007. The latest available licensing statistics cover the period until 31 March 2007 and are therefore outside the period of this offence coming into force. We have asked for data during our most recent statistics collection covering the period from 1 March 2007 to 31 March 2008, so we anticipate having figures when these are published on 31 October.