Drink Talking: John Madden

The culture secretary has disregarded the advisory group over licensing fees says John Madden, executive officer, Guild of Master Victuallers.

The fees set out by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) will leave many licensees very disappointed. Not only because of the increase over what they had been led to believe the fees would be, but by the introduction of a multiple of two for band D premises and a multiple of three for band E.

In correspondence to the former licensing minister Kim Howells, we commended him for proposing that the fees would be set by the secretary of state and that they would apply nationally, thereby preventing local authorities from setting their own fees.

The minister informed me that the cost of the premises licence would be between £100 and £500, but there was no mention of a multiplier for any bands.

The setting up of the DCMS advisory group was an excellent idea and the guild's nominee Bill Sharp, a working publican, would enable civil servants to know what licensees were thinking. In discussions with Bill on the proposed fees he said that any increase in what was being proposed would be minimal, and at the most no more than tweaking. Bill assured me that the introduction of a multiplier was not discussed.

The guild opposed the transfer of the administration of licensing from magistrates to local authorities in its submission, and not just on the basis of the devil you know. One of the main reasons for opposing the transfer was the experience of licensees in dealing with local authorities following the transfer of public entertainment licences, when what was a simple application with an affordable fee became one where the number of pages increased along with the fees.

It seems that the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, has disregarded the views of the members of the advisory group and succumbed to pressure from local authorities to increase the fees, and pressure from other sections, by introducing a multiplier for bands D and E without enabling the trade to express its views.