Clause 19 - Closure of certain licensed premises due todisorder or disturbance
Criminal Justice and Police Bill
8:35 pm
Mr Charles Clarke (Minister of State, Home Office; Norwich South, Labour)
It is a delight, Mr. Gale, to return to your chairmanship after such an engaging and interesting series of votes.
The amendments would give the Crown court, when seized of an appeal against a decision to revoke a licence, the discretion to order that the relevant licensed premises, closed under the terms of new section 179E(7), may reopen subject to any conditions it thinks fit; and the amendments make consequential changes to other parts of the Bill that flow from the creation of that discretion.
Amendment No. 115 would add to the existing offences by creating the offence of permitting the opening of relevant premises in contravention of the requirements of new subsection 179E(7). That is the purpose of the Bill.
The Government propose the amendments to ensure that the system of closing disorderly or excessively noisy licensed premises is fair and just at all stages, and that the courts are properly empowered to provide a just outcome. We are aware that appeals to the Crown court in licensing matters can be protected, and that the court must be able during that time to exercise discretion to open the premises if it is appropriate. It is important for the scheme of offences fully to support the proposal that once the police have initiated action by making a closure order, the premises should not reopen unless the police withdraw their order or the court authorises reopening. Any attempt to open premises in deliberate defiance of the law should be punished. They are straightforward technical amendments.