Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his letter to leaders of local authorities on 5 March 2021, what progress he has made in extending the temporary provisions that simplified the route for pubs, restaurants and cafes to obtain a temporary pavement licence for another 12 months from 30 September 2021.

On 8 June we laid the Business and Planning Act 2020 (Pavement Licences) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 which extends the temporary streamlined pavement licence provisions that we introduced last summer for 12 months until September 2022. The regulations have now been approved in Parliament and the legislation has come into effect. Therefore, businesses will now be able to apply for a licence for the extended period.