Thursday, August 26, 2010
Is there a future for the traditional British pub? Martin Wainwright investigates in: Guardian Focus podcast: The future of the British pub
Filed in UK Alcohol Policy
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Also tagged alcohol industry, britain, british, business-every, changing-social, future, future-might, guardian-focus, past, people-want, pubs, the-traditional, traditional, wainwright
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Review on taxation and pricing – last few days to submit proposals and evidence to the Treasury as part of the current review .
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Local authorities in Manchester considering a local bye-law approach to introducing a minimum alcohol price have received in principle support from the Prime Minister. Although the Coalition do not plan minimum pricing at a national level, David Cameron said 'where there can be local decisions we are very happy for that to happen'. Although Cameron raised caution over the possible issues over competition law, he promised to 'look at the details'
Filed in UK Alcohol Policy
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Also tagged alcohol pricing, coalition, david-cameron, from-the-prime, health-campaign, local-decisions, minimum-pricing, policy, possible-issues, prime, prime-minister, stiff-political, think-the-idea
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Local authorities in Manchester are exploring a minimum price approach for the region through possible use of a by-law. The move is supported by the Our Life health campaign group who are urging support for a 50p per unit minimum price
The Home Office have opened consultation on government plans to overhaul the current licensing regime, following the Home Secretary's announcement earlier this week: 'Rebalancing the Licensing Act – a consultation on empowering individuals, families and local communities to shape and determine local licensing' [pdf] The consultation page highlights the main commitments identified in reforming the Licensing Act, but stresses '… we're interested in what you think the implications of implementing the proposals will be, rather than your views on the commitments themselves: overhauling the
Following recent confirmation of plans to overhaul the Licensing Act in the Structural Reform Plan , a series of workshops will take place to seek views on forthcoming policy proposals. The Home Office, now responsible for Licensing, are hosting the workshops which will seek 'views on policy proposals to be outlined in a forthcoming consultation on the rebalancing of the Licensing Act to empower local communities to tackle alcohol-related crime and disorder.' Invitations to attend are being disseminated via local authorities though the Morning Advertiser have published further details .
The Home Office Structural Reform Plan [pdf] was released this week, outlining the Coalition's plans to reform policing, licensing, civil liberties, counter-terrorism and immigration laws. The plan details its alcohol and licensing plans as: Overhaul alcohol licensing to give more power to police and local authorities to meet the concerns of local communities: Consult and develop proposals to overhaul the Licensing Act 2003 to strengthen local authority and police powers to remove licenses from, or refuse to grant licenses to, any premises that are causing problems Legislate through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill Develop options for alcohol taxation and pricing to ensure it tackles binge drinking, working with Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and HM Treasury Develop options to ban below-cost sale of alcohol, working with other government departments Introduce legislation if necessary The reform plan includes timescales and indicates the below cost ban will be agreed by November 2010, with alcohol taxation reformed for April 2011 and the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill passed by November 2011.
The Government is considering four options to ban below-cost selling of alcohol and is planning a forthcoming public consultation. According to a press release : The coalition pledged in June to ban below-cost alcohol sales and has held talks with the industry to define what it means by “cost”. The Grocer magazine said the Home Office told industry lobbyists it is working on four possible options, the first of which defines cost as simply duty and VAT
Filed in UK Alcohol Policy
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Also tagged alcohol industry, alcohol pricing, august-as-part, chief-executive, definition, government, grocer, industry, molson-coors, office, police-reform, working-on-four
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Licensees in an area of Portsmouth have made a 'voluntary agreement' not to sell drinks below £1.50 – but premises failing to adhere may expect to be called to a licensee
'Double' tax hike for drinkers expected in budget According to the Telegraph , 'drinkers face a “double whammy” of tax rises in the forthcoming emergency budget which will see the cost of beer, wine and spirits increasing sharply for the second time in three months.' A 5% duty rise combined with an increase of 2.5 percentage point rise in the rate of VAT rate would be thought to put 19p on a bottle of Chardonnay, while a bottle of Gordon's gin would rise 65p to £13.80.
Filed in UK Alcohol Policy, recovery
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Also tagged 2009-the-pilots, alcohol industry, alcohol-health, bbc, forthcoming, mainly-as-chair, news, power, press-release, public-health, recovery, royal-college, university, welfare-reform
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