Agendas, reports and minutes

Minute of the meeting of The Highland Licensing Forum held in Committee Room One, Council Offices, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Tuesday 17th November 2015 at 2 pm     
 

Present:
Ramsay McGhee (Trade and Licence Member) – Convener in the Chair
Gordon Clelland (Licensed trade representative)
Donald Lawson (Licensed trade representative)
Janet Home (Resident Member)
Mrs Pat Hayden (Resident Member)
Sergeant Bruce Gray (Representative of Police Scotland)
Elisabeth Smart, Public Health Consultant (Health Service representative)
Sarah Mackenzie (Highland Drug and Alcohol Partnership)
Gillian Gunn (representing Highland Violence Against Women Strategy Group)
Ailsa Villegas (substituting for Cath King, Education and Social Work representative)
Ian Cox, Licensing Standards Officer
David Inglis, Licensing Standards Officer (by telephone link from Wick)

In attendance:
Fiona Sinclair, Legal Adviser to the Forum and Clerk
 

1. Welcome

The Convener welcomed members to the meeting.

2. Apologies for Absence
      
Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of –

Catherine Bateson (Youth Convener, young people’s representative)
Stuart Stirling (Young people’s representative)
Joanne Sutherland (personal licence holder)
David McDiarmid, (Representative of Fire & Rescue Service)
Cath King (Ailsa Villegas was substituting) (Education and Social Work representative)
Elizabeth Treasurer, Licensing Standards Officer

3. Minutes of Meeting held on 1st September 2015
 
The minutes of the meeting held on 1st September 2015, copies of which had been circulated with the Agenda were held as read and were approved.

4. Meeting Dates for 2016

The Forum agreed the following dates for meetings in 2016, all meetings to be held in Council Headquarteres at 2.00 pm:-
9th February 2016  
17th May 2016
6th September 2016
15th November 2016

The Forum noted that the date of the next joint meeting with the Licensing Board has still to be fixed.

5. Forum Membership – Resignation and New Applications  
 
The Convener reminded members that Gwyn Phillips, a Resident Member on the Forum, who had previously representheld the offsales section of the trade had resigned his position on the Forum.  The Forum noted two new applications to join the Forum, received from Gail Campbell of Inverness and Stephen McEwan of Dingwall, both personal licence holders working in offsales.  The Forum agreed to accept both applications.  The Clerk intimated that both applications had been agreed by Stewart Fraser, Head of Corporate Governance who has the final say on Forum applications.  It was agreed to invite both new members to the next meeting of the Forum.

6. Note from Youth Convener

The Forum noted that both youth representatives were unable to attend today’s meeting due to other commitmenrs.  The Clerk circulated a report from Kat about her aspirations for the year ahead as Youth Convener.  The report was noted with gratitutde by the Forum members.      

7. Report on Joint Meeting with Licensing Board on 8th September

The Convener gave a brief update on the recent successful joint meeting between the Forum and the Board, chaired by Dr Cockburn the new Board Convener.  A list of the points discussed is included at Appendix One of this minute. 

In relation to test purchasing and age verification testing, the Forum discussed how young people in Highland access alcohol.  Indications from the SALSA survey were that family members and friends provide it while other members suggested that it may also be obtained from the internet.  There was a suggestion that because of a change in parental attitudes children are able to drink openly in a controlled environment.  It was agreed that Liz, Sarah and Ailsa would try to break down available data for a future meeting to try to show how young people in the Highland area are accessing alcohol.  

8. Board meetings

Ramsay reminded members that webcasts of Board meetings could be viewed on the Council website. 

9. Licensing Standards Officer’s Report – David Inglis
 
David Inglis referred to his report which had been circulated before the meeting and which forms Appendix Two to this minute.  David also intimated to the Forum that he will now be based in the Dingwall office rather than the Wick office and that his area has been extended to include all of the Ross and Cromarty area except the Black Isle.  The Forum members noted the terms of the report.

10. Any urgent business not on the agenda
 
Non-alcoholic drinks promotions - Sarah Mackenzie commended some pubs for providing free non-alcoholic drinks to drivers on certain evenings.  

Standard of Licensed premises - Ian Cox referred to the improving standard in licensed premises due to the trained staff, and financial investment which had made premises pleasant places to socialise where customers are well looked afer, proof of age is required and drunk people are not served alcohol.  Discussion followed about the possibility of issuing a press release on the subject of issuing a press release highlighting the improvments in licensed premises in recent years following the 2005 Act.

Operation Respect – it was noted that Operation Respect, an initiative aimed at creating a safer and cleaner Inverness for people, families and businesses over the festive periodt was being launched in the next week 

Pubwatch – Ian Cox said that he had understood that there had been an effort in another area to make joining Pubwatch compulsory for licensed premises.  It was agreed that while it had been decided not to make Pubwatch compulsory in Highland, Pubwatch is a very effective organisation and that there would be further discussion about it at a future Forum meeting.

Board Income and Expenditure – Ramsay reported that the Board Clerk had given him a short report containing the Board’s income and expenditure figures for the year 2014/2015.  The figures showed a small surplus of £2,269 for the year. 

There being no further business the Convener closed the meeting at 3.50 pm.

APPENDIX ONE – REPORT ON JOINT MEETING WITH LICENSING BOARD

Update on Online applications for licences –the Board Clerk reported that currently applications could be made on-line for personal licences, occasional licences and extended hours.  Application forms for premises licences, variations and transfers were currently not available and he explained the difficulties associated with placing premises licence applications on-line.  The Board Clerk further reported that a “saving” facility had been introduced in response to problems reported by customers.   The Board Clerk provided an assurance that the Corporate Improvement Team continued to work to address any issues associated with the new system.

Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 The Board Clerk circulated a report outlining the main changes made by the Act and advised that the amendments were due to come into force by the end of 2015.

Financial Report the Board Clerk reported that a financial report on licensing income and expenditure was currently being prepared for the year 2014/15 and once completed  would be circulated to the Forum.

Possibility of a consolidation Act to bring all the licensing provisions together – The Clerk to the Board advised that this matter had been consistently raised by Clerks across Scotland with civil servants within the Scottish Government and that there had been a reluctance at Scottish Government level to take action.  The Board agreed to express support for any approach by the Highland Licensing Forum to the Scottish Parliament seeking a consolidation Act in regard to liquor licensing. 
 
Update on Review of Distillery Early Opening Hours – the Forum queried why the Board had not acted on its undertaking to the Forum to review early opening hours for distilleries as suggested by the Forum.  The Clerk to the Board explained that there had been no demand for early opening from the trade at the time the Board’s policy was reviewed or after that and also no recent applications had been received. Consequently he was inclined to take no further action on this matter until the Board next reviews its policy.
 
Update on Age Verification Testing – David Inglis, Licensing Standards Officer explained that Police Scotland had indicated an intention to undertake test purchasing for on-sales premises in addition to off-sales as they were permitted to do under the provisions of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 although there was no date in place for this to commence.  He advised that related to this was a proposal to undertake age verification testing in conjunction with Trading Standards, whereby persons over the age of 18 would go into licensed premises and it would be checked whether they were being asked to provide identification in accordance with the Challenge 25 scheme. If a licensed premises was regularly failing to ask for age verification then this would be fed into the Police intelligence system on the basis the Police could then consider targeting these premises as part of their test purchasing operation. David emphasised that the proposal was of particular relevance given the addition of ‘young persons’ to the licensing objectives.  He said that until the Police position in relation to test purchasing in onsales premises is clear there will be no age verification testing in onsales.  

Date of Joint Meeting – the Forum had welcomed the Board’s decision to move the joint meeting to a different day to a scheduled board meeting and the Board’s decision to move the commencement time of Board meetings to reduce the waiting time for licensees.
 
Evaluation of Board’s Overprovision Policy – The Forum had requested an update on this following last year’s meeting.  The Depute Clerk to the Board reported that to date there had been no serious challenge to the Board’s overprovision statement, the nearest being recent applications from Lidl which sought to extend the display area at their stores  marginally beyond the 40 square metres.  She advised that when it became clear that the Board was not minded to approve the applications Lidl’s representatives had instructions to amend the applications to remove that element of the application relating to the alcohol display areas.

The Clerk to the Board advised that in addition to the above a retailer had amended their application once it had been pointed out to them that they were in breach of the overprovision policy prior to the application being brought to the Board. In regard to any potential future challenges to the policy he was confident that the policy could be defended on the basis that it had been well researched and evidenced.

Statistics and Operation of Act - Ms L Smart, NHS Highland referred to NHS Scotland statistics which showed that 2014 was the first year in five years where the amount of alcohol sold per adult in Scotland had not reduced. It was suggested that this may reflect the improving economic situation and the fact consumers had more disposable income.  Concern was expressed for the population’s health if this trend were to continue.  It was noted that the statistics also showed that 72% of all alcohol sold in Scotland in 2014 was from off-sales, primarily supermarkets which represented an increase on previous years. 

Ramsay advised that in accordance with its statutory remit the Forum had been considering the impact of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 in Highland, looking at reports from its member agencies. To date he advised that it was a favourable picture on the basis that crime figures had reduced and there had been a marked decrease in alcohol related deaths and therefore the overall trends were positive.

The meeting agreed that arrangements be made for the available statistics relating to alcohol sales and impacts and statistics from Inverness Women’s Aid as referred to in discussion above be circulated to the Forum and Board.  

 
Personal licence holder refresher training – The Board Clerk reported that only five personal licence holders who had licences revoked had re-applied for a licence. He explained the loophole in the legislation which allowed those who had previously held a licence to re-apply using their old training certificate, this being at odds with the Act’s intention that non- licence holders be required to undertake training. He said that the Scottish Government could correct this loophole if it wished to do so. 

APPENDIX TWO – LICENSING STANDARDS OFFICER’S REPORT – DAVID INGLIS 

The Highland Licensing Forum

Meeting Of the Highland Licensing Forum, Council Headquarters, Inverness on Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Licensing  Standards Officers’ report.

Summary:

To provide an update to the Highland Licensing Forum members in relation to the activities of the Licensing Standard Officers and any other matters of interest.
Annual fees –
Early indications are that the majority of licence holders have paid the annual fee for 2015 - 2016. For “non-payers” premises licence review proposals will be considered by the Board at the meeting in January with review hearings to go ahead at the February meeting. The Board have previously accepted payment up to the date of the hearings. 6 licences were revoked for non-payment last January and it is understood that none were actually trading at that time.
Visits
Routine visits continue and there have been no noteworthy incidents during the last 3 months. It is noted that a large number of, particularly, rural premises are operating on reduced hours outwith the main tourist season.
Festive period
Applications for and notification of extended hours over the festive period have started to arrive. The period this year is from ( normal hours commencing) Friday 11th December 2015 to Saturday 2nd January 2016 until 0200 hrs for “ordinary” premises and until 0400 hrs for late opening premises.
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) Bill
A Government Memorandum published on 2nd November 2015 concludes that the Scottish Government does not support the Bill progressing to stage 2.
A brief verbal update will be given at the meeting.

Miscellaneous
1. Burger King has made applications in England for premises licences for 4 restaurants. A spokeswoman for the company in Britain said: 'We're just catching up with the rest of the world really.'  Meanwhile, rivals McDonald's said serving alcoholic drinks was not something customers had asked for.
2. Two friends are opening an “edible alcohol” shop in Carnaby Street selling cocktail-flavoured candy floss, dip dabs and boozy fruit pastilles. They have created a “magical, glittery labyrinth” with the help of a theatre designer where customers can “experience” alcohol by consuming it in unusual ways. The Eat Your Drink shop, which they claim is a world first, is selling inventions tried out at dating nights as well as sweets that are now stocked by Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges.
3. Recent press articles have referred to financial difficulties suffered by 2 licensed clubs in Caithness. One club has ceased trading and the other has reduced operating hours and made a member of staff redundant. It is likely that many other clubs continue to operate in straitened circumstances and LSOs have been giving guidance, when asked, as to licensing options which may be available to them.