Written question asked by Tobias Ellwood (Conservative) on Wednesday, 29 April 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 5 May 2009. It was answered by Gerry Sutcliffe (Labour) on Thursday, 7 May 2009 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Licensed Premises

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will bring forward proposals to establish a national database of designated premises supervisors.

Answer: A convincing business case is required before committing public expenditure to establishing national databases. The case for establishing a national database for personal licence holders, some of whom would be designated premises supervisors, was examined by independent consultants and they did not find that a compelling case existed. In the absence of any new evidence to strengthen the case we have no current plans to introduce a database but we will keep the matter under review. The current arrangements were designed to function effectively with or without an electronic database.

Secondary information