06 June 2007.

LICENSING CHANGES DID NOT INCREASE PUBLIC DISORDER

Stafford’s Labour MP David Kidney welcomes the launch of  the Government’s updated Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy. It stresses the official determination to stamp out alcohol abuse that wrecks lives and fuels anti social behaviour and criminality. But the MP also notes in the new Strategy the evaluation of the effects of the new licensing law – and he says the predictions of disaster never materialised:

“When I brought the Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker MP to Stafford earlier this year, we discussed problems of tackling substance abuse – drugs and alcohol – with a number of practitioners. They made clear the need to bear down on the abuse of alcohol and to provide more services for treatment of health problems relating to excessive drinking.

“I am therefore pleased to see that the new Strategy gives attention to these issues.
“But I also want to point out that the Strategy contains this information about the effects of the new Licensing Act, which was so controversial when it was introduced:

• There are more than 200,000 premises licences and certificates in place.
• Around 3,000 of these are 24 hour licences - less than two per cent of the total.
• There is no evidence of a move to a new standard closing time - approximately one fifth of pubs, bars and clubs close by 11pm at the latest, roughly a half by midnight and around four fifths by 1am at the latest.
• There have been around 600 completed licensing reviews, and approximately 100 licences have been revoked as a result.

“From these statistics, which back up my own experiences in Stafford constituency, I draw the conclusion that the changes in licensing law that we made have been successful. This knowledge should give us the concentrate on the challenges facing us in terms of healthy life-style, breaking the cycle of heavy drinking and criminal behaviour ( violence, damage and drunk driving) and getting the treatment right for those who have a drink problem