Following recent questions asked on how the Department for Health and Social Care intend to protect vulnerable people from rapid alcohol deliveries, Sarah Jones, the Minster of State at the Home Office has provided a written response on the Department’s intentions.
In the written response, the Minister has confirmed that there has been a notable growth in sales of alcohol via online platforms and deliveries and so the Department for Health and Social Care and the Home Office are looking into how the current licensing rules apply to online and deliveries services to ensure that the rules are effective.
It is an offence under the Licensing Act 2003 to sell, attempt to sell, or allow alcohol to be sold to individual who are drunk and to children. Therefore, the review of current licensing rules in relation to deliveries will be particularly important to ensure relevant age verification checks can be carried out effectively.
Ministers will be engaging with delivery companies, as well as seeking views from experts to evaluate how the growth in online and delivery sales impacts on people’s health and the licensing objectives which will then determine their next steps.
Once the Government release further details on likely timescales, we will provide an update.
For more information, please feel free to contact any of our licensing solicitors on 0115 953 8500.
