On 14th May, the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee published its latest report on the effects the Licensing Act 2003. Since the new regime came into force in November 2003, there have been several reviews of its effectiveness. Three major revisions have already been proposed. The first, relating to the supervision of alcohol sales in church and village halls has already come into force. The second will introduce a new “minor variations” procedure (and has been laid before Parliament), and the third will exempt small scale activities from the licensing regime. The scope of this exemption is not clear. The public consultation has ended, but draft proposals have not been published by the DCMS.

The Select Committee acknowledged that there remain concerns that the current licensing process is “too bureaucratic, complicated and time-consuming, especially where a premises is run by volunteers.” However, their recommendation only goes as far as a revamp of the licensing forms. For members’ clubs, the recommendation is to reduce licensing fees by only taking into account the area occupied by the bar when setting the application fee.

Temporary Event Notices (TENs) have perhaps caused the most difficulty for arts groups. TENs were designed to allow licensable activities at one-off or “occasional” events, but they are only allowed for smaller scale events. Many festivals and touring arts events rely on TENs because the costs of full permanent premises licences are too costly.

The Select Committee has recommended that the limit to the number of applications that one person may make in any year should increase to 15, with a corresponding increase in the number of applications for each set of premises. However, it also suggests that local councillors should be given the power to object to an application, and the deadline for objections be extended from 48 hours to three working days of receipt.

The Report contains good news for London based events – the Committee expresses a concern that music based arts events are automatically treated as a disruptive activity that inevitably leads to nuisance and disorder. The Metropolitan Police’s Promotion and Event Assessment Form (Form 696) is described as going beyond the requirements of the Act, imposing unreasonable conditions. More generally, the Select Committee calls on the Government to exempt small venues (fewer than 200 persons) from licensing for live music. It also suggests the reintroduction of the two-in-a-bar exemption for venues of any size wishing to organise a performance of non-amplified music by one or two musicians.

The Government is criticised for not consulting with the circus industry, and other “portable” entertainments. A new form of licence is proposed, to be issued by the “home” authority to cover a travelling circus. Other low risk, small scale travelling entertainments may be exempted following consultation. Punch and Judy Professors and other street theatre practitioners take note.