DCMS consults on revised guidance covering Live Music Act reforms

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport has launched a technical consultation on proposed changes to the guidance issued under the Licensing Act that are needed to take into account reforms brought in by the Live Music Act.

The Live Music Act 2012 received Royal Assent in March and will come into force on 1 October 2012.

The DCMS intends to amend chapter 15 of the guidance, which covers Regulated Entertainment.

The revised version of the guidance is expected to be laid before Parliament on 31 October 2012 so that other changes the Home Office is introducing relating to Early Morning Restriction Orders can be incorporated at the same time.

The DCMS said the purpose of the consultation was not to consider the policies delivered through the Live Music Act.

“Rather it is to ensure that, from a technical perspective, this guidance works, i.e. it is accurate, helpful and pragmatic,” the Department added.

When the 2012 Act comes into force, it will remove the licensing requirements for amplified live music between 8am and 11pm before audiences of no more than 200 people on premises authorised to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises; amplified live music between 8am and 11pm before audiences of no more than 200 people in workplaces not otherwise licensed under the 2003 Act (or licensed only for the provision of late night refreshment); and unamplified live music between 8am and 11pm in all venues.

Where licensable activities (such as the sale of alcohol) continue to take place on premises, any licence conditions related to live music will be suspended. However, it will be possible to impose new or reinstate existing live music conditions following a review of a premises licence or club premises certificate relating to premises authorised to supply alcohol for consumption on the premises.

The Live Music Act will also remove licensing requirements for the provision of entertainment facilities. In addition, the consultation paper says, it will widen the current licensing exemption for music which is integral to a performance of morris dancing or dancing of a similar type, so that the exemption applies to live or recorded music, instead of unamplified live music.

More information on the technical consultation can be found here. The closing date is 28 September 2012.