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Written question asked by Damian Green (Conservative) on Thursday, 13 March 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 March 2008. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 3 June 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Licensed Premises: Kent

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many (a) off licences and (b) other establishments with a licence to sell alcohol in Kent have been prosecuted for selling alcohol to under-age drinkers in each of the last five years;
Answer

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for selling alcohol to those under 18 years old in Kent police force area from 2003 to 2006 can be viewed in the following table. It is not possible to identify from the data whether these sales were from on or off licensed premises.The offence of sale of alcohol to a person under 18 can also attract a penalty notice for disorder (PND); there were no PNDs issued for the offence in Kent police force area in 2004, 10 PNDs issued in 2005 and five in 2006.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for certain alcohol related offences in Kent police force area for the years 2003 to 2006¹,²,³
Proceeded against
Offence description 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Holder of occasional permission or agent knowingly selling intoxicating liquor to person under 18 3 9 15 14 2
Wholesaler selling intoxicating liquor to a person under 18 0 3 0 0 0
Total 3 12 15 14 2
¹ These data are on the principal offence basis.
² Data includes the following offence descriptions and corresponding statutes:
Holder of occasional permission or agent knowingly selling intoxicating liquor to person under 18
Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 S.4(l)(a), Licensing Act S.169A & 169B, as added by Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 S.I
Wholesaler selling intoxicating liquor to a person under 18
Licensing Act 1964 Sec 181 A(l) as added by Licensing Act 1988 Sec 17.
From these two offences we cannot separately identify on and off premises consumption although both are covered by the statutes.
³ Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, other agencies, and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
Source:
Court proceedings data held by RDS— Office for Criminal Justice Reform— Ministry of Justice

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
476 c885-6W;476 c883-4W; 195148
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Alcoholic drinks Kent Young people
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk