Clause 19 - Determination of application for
Licensing Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Dr Kim Howells (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Pontypridd, Labour)
I am getting confused, too. It is getting late in the day, though. Amendment No. 188 is unnecessary. It would insert a requirement in clause 19 that any applications received by the licensing authority that were either not amended in accordance with clause 18 or had not met the requirement under clause 18 to advertise an application and give notice of it to responsible authorities, would be returned by the authority to the applicant, setting out the reasons for the rejection of the application.
The provisions already contained in the Bill achieve that result. Clause 19(1) already has the effect that if an application does not meet the specified requirements, no further elaboration is needed. As a public authority, the licensing authority must advise the applicant that the application is not compliant and identify why it has formed that view. There is no reason to state that on the face of the Bill, and I hope that with that reassurance the hon. Gentleman will not press his amendment to a Division.