Sutcliffe: decision on alcohol price imminent

Licensing minister Gerry Sutcliffe has warned that action on alcohol price could be imminent at the final hearing of the Licensing Act inquiry.

Sutcliffe warned that irresponsible promotions were still on the agenda and said that a decision on pricing was expected "shortly" — most likely with the publication of the much awaited Sheffield report into pricing, promotion and harm.

"There are things, as a sponsoring department, that we can do around pricing," he said.

Sutcliffe said he considered irresponsible promotions to be ones such as during football games, where pubs offer free drinks until the first goal is scored. "If it is clear that a promotion is causing people to be drunk in a particular establishment, then it's right that we should act," he said.

But he added he was "encouraged" by the industry's voluntary actions to stamp out irresponsible promotions and that any action taken must be "proportionate".

Minor changes​

The Licensing Act has led to an overall reduction in premises licenses and only added 20 minutes to the average opening time, according to the licensing minister.

Sutcliffe said he still believed that cost savings of around £99m a year had been achieved by the Licensing Act, despite trade and council beliefs to the contrary.

The minister promised to look at simplifying the application form, the need to advertise applications in newspapers and extending the deadline for transfer process when there is a bereavement from seven days.

He dismissed ideas of separating the licensing of live music from the Act, a need for a central register of personal licence holders and said there had been little evidence of problems with Temporary Events Notices (TENs) despite council calls for them to be able to object as well as police. "The principle of a TEN was to be light touch," he said.