E-petition: Licensing bill effects on live music

Please note: this response was first published on our website in 2003

A great deal of misinformation has been circulating about our modernisation of the licensing laws in England and Wales and we are therefore not surprised at the level of concern that has been shown.

The Licensing Bill received Royal Assent on 10 July and is now the Licensing Act 2003. We believe that the Act will make it simpler and more affordable than now to stage live entertainment in the vast majority of cases and increase opportunities for musicians and other artists to perform. There will be no additional cost to provide musical entertainment on the new premises licence and fees will be set centrally by the Secretary of State to ensure consistency. Officials are also continuing discussions with the Musicians' Union, the Arts Council and Equity, among other bodies, to help inform the drawing up of guidance to be issued to licensing authorities with the aim that live music can be put on more easily whilst protecting the rights of local residents.

Short-term events would also benefit from the more informal system of permitted temporary activities under the Act, which would require a simple notification to the licensing authority and the police and a small fee of around £20. The Act allows for up to 12 temporary event notices to be given in respect of the same premises, subject to a maximum number of 15 days for the same premises during which permitted temporary activities may take place in a calendar year. The period permissible for any temporary event is a maximum of 4 days (96 hours). Furthermore, there is now an order-making power in the Act which - subject to affirmative resolution - enables those limits and the limit on the number of persons attending an event to be amended in the light of experience, should it prove that the balance between the rights of residents and the light touch approach of the system needs to be adjusted. In determining these levels, the Secretary of State has had to have regard to local authority concerns about public safety at, and nuisance to, local residents caused by these temporary events.

The Licensing Bill was amended during its passage to provide a significant concession on unamplified live music. The effect of section 177 of the Act will be to suspend conditions attached to a premises licence or club premises certificate which have been imposed by a licensing authority in respect of unamplified live music in any premises with a capacity of no more than 200 where it is performed between the hours of 8am and midnight. The licence will, however, remain reviewable to protect local residents and control those few unscrupulous or irresponsible operators who might abuse this concession, damage communities and bring their trade into disrepute. We believe this addresses most of the concerns that have been raised about low-level unamplified music, like folk guitarists, in small premises. The concession is not confined to public houses and so will benefit small folk clubs and village and community halls alike.

This builds on an earlier amendment made to the Bill which applies to both amplified and unamplified live music as well as dancing but is restricted to premises used primarily for the supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises with a capacity of no more than 200. Under section 177 of the Act, conditions attached to a premises licence or club premises certificate which have been imposed by the licensing authority in respect of the provision of the music entertainment are suspended except where they relate to public safety or crime and disorder. Again, the licence will remain reviewable so that conditions imposed by the licensing authority relating to the other two licensing objectives (the prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm) could come into effect or further conditions could be imposed on review.

We appreciate that there are still concerns regarding the licensing of entertainment involving the playing of instruments that require amplification in order to be heard - an electric bass guitar, for example, or electric piano - and therefore cannot benefit from the amendment that relates to unamplified live music. The provisions in the Licensing Act do make it easier and cheaper to stage any kind of regulated entertainment. Also, under the Act, there is an exemption for incidental live and incidental recorded music that can apply whether the music is amplified or not.

We have also given an undertaking that we will review the existing descriptions of entertainment in the Act six to twelve months after the end of the transition period. If the Act has had an unintended, disproportionate negative effect on the provision of live music -or other forms of regulated entertainment-, there are powers already in the Bill to modify the position through secondary legislation. However we believe that the provisions in the Licensing Act will allow live music and other regulated entertainment to thrive.

Morris dancing and dancing of a similar nature are exempt from the requirement for a licence under the Act.

The Department will also be setting up a forum, comprising representatives of performers, venue operators, local authorities and others whose task it will be to advertise the advantages of the reforms and to maximise the take-up.

Private events, where the invited guests were compulsorily charged, either with a view to private profit or to raise funds for charity, would be licensable as such a charge could lead to greater risks being taken with regards to the number of people invited, seating arrangements and access to exits in an emergency, for example. However, where there was a charitable event to which the public was not invited, and where there was no obligation for the audience to give any money to charity, then this entertainment would not be considered licensable.

It is now the case under the Act that entertainers who performed at unlicensed venues and did nothing else in relation to the provision of regulated entertainment - that is to say, the majority of musicians - would not be committing an offence. There is also a defence of "due diligence", as provided in clause 137 of the Act, against the criminal offence where "the act was due to a mistake, reliance on information given to him or to an act or omission by another person or to some other cause beyond his control, and he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing the offence". Accordingly, an organiser should check that any venue has proper permission to stage regulated entertainment, but if he is misled, he is fully protected by the Act. The penalties provided in the Licensing Act are maximum penalties and, as with all offences, the courts would decide on the appropriate punishment depending on the facts of the case.

We believe that the approach to the regulation of entertainment set out in the Licensing Act represents a proportionate response, a fair balance and has an objective and reasonable justification.