Home Office presses ahead with some of mandatory conditions

The Home Office has confirmed that some parts of the mandatory licensing conditions will come into effect at the beginning of October, according to Local Government Regulation.

This is despite the fact that the government’s Rebalancing the Licensing Act consultation is asking for views on the mandatory conditions.

Local Government Regulation – previously known as LACORS – said the two provisions to come into effect on 1 October are:

• The requirement for an age verification policy to be in place to prevent underage sales, and
• Giving customers the opportunity to choose small measures of beers, ciders, spirits and wine.

The Home Office is expected to update its guidance on the mandatory conditions before next month.

Local Government Regulation recently warned licensing authorities not to pre-empt any changes to the legislation.

“Even though one of the proposals in the consultation is to remove the three-yearly requirement for reviewing licensing policy statements, this will not be implemented in time to change the current primary legislative statutory requirements to review licensing policies in time for January 2011,” it said.

“Authorities are legally required to continue with their policy reviews, and should base that review on the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 as it currently stands.”

The Home Office has said that the majority of its proposals will be introduced via its forthcoming Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill.