What assessment she has made of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003.

It is too early fully to measure the implications yet, but the early signs are positive. Police and ambulance services are not reporting increases in alcohol-related crime or accidents. We will closely monitor the impact of the Act over the coming months and report back to Parliament.

I thank my hon. Friend for his reply. Does he share my satisfaction that the measures taken so far seem to have been successful in empowering local communities to control licensing and drinking behaviour in their areas? Does he agree that the long-term future of the policy must lie in ensuring that local communities understand and use their powers so that we can get the best of both worlds—a more consumer-friendly drinking regime and commitment to law and order in stable communities?

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. The central principle of the Act was to give local communities the right to make decisions about their local premises. It is too early to judge the Act—we have always said that we would not do so overnight—but we will look very closely at the evidence. We will want to see, for example, a reduction in the level of failed test purchases in selling to minors, more responsibility from the trade, and very serious measures taken by local authorities and the police against the minority who continue to behave in an irresponsible manner.

Having spent Friday night out on patrol with the local police in my constituency, may I tell the Minister that the evidence from Kettering is that there has been an increase in the number of people arrested since the new measures were introduced?

As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have introduced an alcohol misuse enforcement campaign that is doing exactly that. It is targeting people who have been misbehaving under the previous legislation, and it is only because of the tough new powers in the Act that that campaign is the toughest one that we have ever had.

Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating the licensing officers and local councillors who have worked very hard to implement the Act? Will he also recognise that the Armageddon that some predicted would result from the implementation of the Act has not occurred?

I do want to join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to everybody involved in implementing the Act. A huge amount of work has been done by licensing officials and councillors in ensuring that it was brought forward in good order. In particular, they did a huge amount of work over the summer to raise the level of applications, and we pay tribute to them, the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services and the Local Government Association.

The Minister will know that the responsibility for maintaining these licences has shifted from magistrates to local councils, yet there has been no extra financial help for them. What measures does he intend to take to ensure that they have extra resources to do this—[Interruption.]—particularly in Shrewsbury?

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman has misunderstood the Act. There are extra resources. We made it absolutely clear that any extra costs from the implementation of the Act would be covered by fees and we set up an independent review to look into exactly that. It was very important that we did that, because previously magistrates courts' budgets were subsidising the licensing of alcohol to the tune of £25 million, and that money was obviously therefore not available for other important activities undertaken by magistrates.

Does my hon. Friend not think that the problem with the debate that we are having about the new law is that there is a failure to implement parts in that law and in previous laws to fine the licensees and the bar staff who feed people drink when they are clearly out of their mind with it, and that is why binge drinking is such a problem? Can we not enforce the penalties on the licensees so that they do not give drunk young people more drink just to make profits?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The police had lost confidence in the previous law. They were worried that it was broke and would not deliver what they wanted. We have given them the extra powers that they requested. That is why, for example, the Police Superintendents Association always backed the Act's implementation, and why we have worked closely with the police on it, and we will continue to do so as the Act comes in. But the key point is to change the culture of drinking in the country. The Licensing Act is one step on the way to doing so, but obviously it will need to be accompanied by action on other fronts, such as health and education, and we are working with other Departments on that as well.

Earlier in the year, the Prime Minister gave an assurance in a reply to my hon. Friend Hugh Robertson on licensing fees, that the Government did not

"want sports clubs to be unfairly burdened by disproportionate fees."

Given that the latest evidence from the Central Council of Physical Recreation shows that 56 per cent. of sports clubs fall into the higher licensing bands C to E, can the Prime Minister's words be trusted?

Of course they can. That is why we have asked the independent review by Les Elton to look into exactly that issue, and it has committed to doing so. If it makes any recommendations, we will look at those seriously. But obviously it is also open to sports clubs to apply to benefit from community amateur sports club status, which would save them far more money than any fee that would be covered under the Act.