Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Home Office's closed consultation entitled Impact assessment: alcohol in licensed pavement areas, published on 10 May 2024, whether her Department has produced an impact assessment on the decision to allow the Covid-19 easements in relation to alcohol licensing on (a) pavement licences and (b) takeaway pints to expire at the end of March 2025.

The previous government ran two consultations in 2023 and 2024 to consider the future of this temporary easement, each accompanied by an impact assessment. The most recent impact assessment, published alongside the 2024 consultation, can be found at Impact Assessment - licensing the pavement area.

A new impact assessment relating to the lapse of the easement was not required as new policy or legislation was not being introduced. To assist businesses that have made use of the easement, the Government has amended statutory licensing guidance to make it easier and cheaper for businesses to apply for and obtain a licensing variation.