The Home Office has launched a consultation (on 28 November 2012) on ‘delivering the Government’s policies to cut alcohol fuelled crime and anti-social behaviour’. The deadline for responses is 13 February 2013.
The consultation requests views on 5 areas:
- Minimum unit pricing;
- Ban on multi-buy promotions in shops and off-licences;
- Health as a new licensing objective for Cumulative Impact Policies;
- Review of mandatory licence conditions; and
- Further measures to ‘cut red tape’.
Clearly, four of these proposals could have an adverse effect on licensed businesses – this time around there is a specific focus on the off-trade, but the on-trade does not escape either. The
proposals to ‘cut red tape’ may be a sweetener for some, but the effects of these measures will be limited for the majority of businesses.
This is a Consultation document only and therefore proposals may not be implemented in the proposed form, or at all. However, there are a number of issues which could potentially impact significantly upon licensed businesses and consumers in the future.