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He said that the review of the Licensing Act reveals a mixed picture. Its introduction has not led to the widespread problems some feared. Overall, crime and alcohol consumption are down, but alcohol-related violence has increased in the early hours of the morning and some communities have seen a rise in disorder.

"Our main conclusion is that people are using the freedoms but people are not sufficiently using the considerable powers granted by the Act to tackle problems, and that there is a need to rebalance action towards enforcement and crack down on irresponsible behaviour"

He went to say that some aspects of the Act have worked well:

• bringing together six previous licensing regimes into a single integrated scheme has resulted in a considerable reduction in red tape
• the Act has also delivered new powers and flexibilities enabling local authorities and police to work in partnership to significantly reduce crime and disorder in some areas
• at the same time, millions of people have been able to able to enjoy the convenience of shopping at a time that suits them and socialising in restaurants, bars and cafes beyond 11pm.

Furthermore, contrary to popular expectations:

• the average closing time across all on-licensed premises has increased by only 21 minutes since the Act came into effect
• the overall volume of incidents of crime and disorder has remained stable and not risen
• alcohol consumption, rather than increasing, has instead fallen over this period.

But beneath these headline facts the picture is much more mixed.

• whilst crimes involving violence may have reduced over the evening and night time period, the evidence also points to increases in offences, including violent crimes, reported between 3am and 6am. This represents 4 per cent of night-time offences
• similarly, whilst there is no clear picture of whether alcohol related demands on A&E services and alcohol-related admissions have risen, some hospitals have seen a fall in demand, others have reported an increase
• it is also clear that the overall reduction in alcohol-related disorder we wanted to see across the country has not materialised consistently in all areas.

Mr Burnham said: "The government remains determined to address these issues, and the report published today has helped us identify a number of ways we can go further to protect the public, both in terms of using all the flexibilities in the Act to crack down on irresponsible behaviour."

He announced a series of actions to:

• encourage the imposition of tougher sanctions on those found to be breaching their licensing conditions
• change the offence of "persistently selling alcohol to a person under 18" from 'three strikes' to 'two strikes' in three months. This means that any seller who twice sells to under age drinkers and is caught doing so will immediately lose their licence
• identify problem hotspots by ranking geographical areas and concentrations of premises on the basis of the risks they present to crime and disorder, public nuisance and children.

The Home Secretary, will bring forward legislation to:

• increase the maximum fine for anyone not obeying an instruction to stop drinking, or to give up their drink in a designated public place from £500 to £2,500
• make it easier for the police to disperse anti-social drinkers
• extend the use of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts for young people caught drinking in public, to require them and their parents to attend a session with a trained worker.

Further information

A full copy of the report and Mr Burhams's stattement to the Commons is available on the DCMS website.

• Evaluation of the Impact of the Licensing Act 2003 Opens new window