Licensing Laws
Home Department
Rosie Cooper (PPS (Rt Hon Lord Rooker, Minister of State), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; West Lancashire, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the new licensing laws on reducing crime in (a) West Lancashire and (b) England and Wales.
Vernon Coaker (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Gedling, Labour)
We are conducting a full evaluation of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on crime and disorder. This is ongoing and is due to be published towards the end of 2007. A separate monitoring exercise is looking at the impact of the Act on police recorded violent crime and criminal damage. Interim results from this exercise were published in July 2006. They show that there had been no change in the overall volume or timing of offences following the introduction of the Act. No separate arrangements have been made to monitor the impact of the Act in West Lancashire.