---

Licensing Act 2003

Indeed; the hon. Gentleman makes a valid point. There are three stages to the problem. Local authority officers must first deal with processing. Then local authority councillor panels might have to meet many times a week over the rest of this month to deal with applications. There could then be a problem for the magistrates courts, which was raised with me when I visited my local magistrates court in Maidenhead a couple of weeks ago. People are worried about what they must do to ensure that the Act is properly implemented. In a sense, I feel sorry for the Under-Secretary. This was a disaster waiting to happen and it has just been dropped in his lap. Even the Financial Times has documented his annoyance at dealing with the ensuing chaos and the fact that he is becoming fed up with ““these ridiculous photo opportunities”” that have seen him pictured in every catering magazine from Fast Food & Frying Operator to Masala. I am sure that they are worthy and well-read publications, but even if the Under-Secretary were to appear as the centre spread in Vogue, OK! or The Guardian’s media pages, he still could not meet his 6 August deadline for the applications.