Part 7: Alcohol licensing Section 142: Late night levy requirements
Currently, the late night levy (see Policy Background, page 36) may only apply to premises selling alcohol and must apply to the whole of the licensing authority’s area. Section 142 amends section 125 of the 2011 Act to allow a licensing authority to decide that a late night levy will apply to the whole licensing authority area or part of the area only. The licensing authority may decide to apply the levy only to those authorised to sell alcohol, or to also charge those authorised to sell late night refreshment.
	Schedule 18: Late night levy requirements
	Subsection (5) of section 142 introduces Schedule 18, which makes amendments to Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the 2011 Act. The amendments relate to "relevant late night refreshment authorisations"; these are authorisations which do not also authorise the supply of alcohol during the late night supply period.
	Where a licensing authority decides to apply a late night levy to both alcohol authorisations and late night refreshment authorisations, they may either determine a single late night supply period (the times at which the levy is payable) or have two different late night supply periods.
	If the levy requirement relates to late night refreshment, the licensee is not liable to pay if only hot drinks are supplied. This would, for example, exclude service stations that supply hot drinks from the requirement to pay the levy.
	Paragraph 7(3) of Schedule 18 places a requirement on the licensing authority to publish information about how it spends its portion of the revenue raised from the levy. The information must be published annually, and the licensing authority may determine the manner in which the information is published.
	Paragraph 12 of Schedule 18 inserts a new section 136A into the 2011 Act, and gives PCCs the right to request that a licensing authority formally propose a levy, triggering a consultation on whether to introduce such a levy. In deciding whether to make a request, the PCC must consider the costs of policing and other arrangements for the reduction of crime and disorder in connection with the supply of alcohol between midnight and 6am, and the desirability of raising revenue via the levy. The request must be accompanied by any evidence that the PCC has in support of the request. The licensing authority is not obliged to carry out a consultation but must publish its response to the request including reasons for its decision, along with the PCC’s request and accompanying evidence.