Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Calum MacLachlainn, J Russell Buchanan, Martin Donovan, Sheila Johnston, Raymond Boyle and Catherine Dobbie.

Local Licensing Forum held on 11 April 2012.

In the absence of a quorum the Local Licensing Forum (LLF) noted the Minute of the Meeting held on 11 April 2012 and noted that this would go to the next meeting for approval.

In the absence of a quorum the LLF noted the Note of Inquorate Meeting held on 18 July 2012 and noted that this would go to the next meeting for approval.

The Forum also noted that Cath Cakebread had put her apologies in for this meeting.

The Chair expressed his disappointment at the lack of attendance by Members at recent meetings.  Reasons for low turnout were considered, such as timing of meetings; lack of interest on Agenda issues; the role of the LLF and pattern of attendance/non-attendance.  It was suggested that changing dates of meetings to avoid particular holidays may improve attendance.

The origin and setup of the LLF was explored, with the composition of the Forum seen as having a balance of views and being representative of a wide variety of interested parties ie community, youth, health, licensed trade all brought together from throughout the Argyll and Bute Council area. 

The Chair went on to suggest that it would be beneficial to invite the Chair of the new Licensing Board (LB) along to meetings of the LLF.  This would help highlight the expertise which existed within the membership of the Forum and provide recognition on how the LLF and LB could work together in re-shaping the new Licensing Policy.

Decision

It was noted that guidance would be sought from the Head of Governance and Law on;

(i)                 whether Members who were unable to attend a particular meeting could send a representative in their place; and

(ii)               whether Members who had not attended for a number of meetings be asked if they wished to remain on or resign from the LLF. Any resignations would result in an advertisement campaign seeking interested persons to apply for membership.

In the absence of a representative from the Police it was noted that this Item would be carried forward to the next meeting of the Forum.

The Chair informed the Forum that he had attended the National Licensing Conference held in Glasgow on 12 September 2012.

There had been 3 main presentations, these being; “Understanding the quasi-judicial role of Licensing Boards: Perceptions and Misperceptions”, “Putting policy into practice: Evidence gathering”, and “Policy into practice: Developing an effective overprovision policy”.

The presentations had been circulated to Members by email along with informative links to the following topics;  Changing Times: Why we need to change licensing practice; Licensing Policy Timeline;, The Licensing Process – Who’s involved?; Factsheet1: Using evidence to support policy and decision making; The National Licensing Conference 2012 Programme and the National Licensing Conference 2012 presentations.

A “Statement of licensing policy timeline” was also tabled.

The Chair went on to inform the LLF that Scottish Licensing Law required Licensing Boards (LB) to publish a statement of their licensing policy every three years, setting out how they would seek to promote the five licensing objectives.

New policy statements were due by November 2013 and relevant organisations were being encouraged to provide valuable assistance to their Licensing Board in formulating evidence-based policy.

The Licensing Policy review followed a timeline which laid out a 7 Step process.  Steps 3 and 4 had already been reached whereby “The licensing board must consult with the local licensing forum when preparing their statement of licensing policy”.

Discussion followed on the function of the LLF in relation to the LB.  It was put forward that the LLF existed to interpret government policy on alcohol and licensing and apply local influences and knowledge in an advisory capacity to the LB.  There were a range of differing local circumstances throughout the Argyll and Bute area, from urban to rural populations, which could be brought to the attention of the LB by members of the LLF when applying a particular policy or license.

The LLF was of the opinion that it could be effective in providing valuable assistance to the LB when formulating its policy for 2013, and discussion took place on how this could be achieved, which topic(s) could be identified for progressing and methods used to gather and interpret statistics to support particular studies.

Following on from discussion regarding the effects alcohol had on various age groups, Roanna Clark reminded the LLF of their decision at a meeting earlier in the year to support a project in Argyll and Bute similar to that which operated in Poland whereby some of the country’s youth projects were funded though taxes on alcohol sales given to the Local Authority.  The North Argyll Forum had brought the project to the Scottish Youth Parliament, and following their support it was now going to Government for approval.

S Mair informed the LLF that the next meeting of the LB was due to be held in November 2012 and that the Statement of Licensing Policy would be an item on their Agenda for discussion, taking into account their legal responsibilities and to provide guidance on the way forward.  The role of the LLF within the policy making framework could also be discussed.

Members were of the opinion that a small group, representative of the LLF, should meet on an informal basis to actively take forward and progress items for discussion with the LB to potentially help formulate policy for 2013. It was suggested that to progress these discussions, the informal group from the LLF meet representatives from the LB initially and agree what could be attainable and progress matters from there.

Decision

The LLF noted that;

(i)                  the following representatives would form the informal small working group;

·        Kenneth Harrison - Chair

·        Health – to be confirmed

·        Youth – Roanna Clark

·        Community – Iain MacNaughton

·        Licensed Trade – to be confirmed

(ii)               the location and timing of each meeting had yet to be determined and the possibility of meetings being held by video conferencing considered;

(iii)             the Chairman would seek to attend a meeting of the Dunbartonshire LLF.

Noted that this Item would be carried forward to the next meeting of the Forum for consideration.

Noted that Items for discussion would be brought to the next meeting of the Forum following discussion between the informal LLF small working group and the LB.

Noted that the joint meeting be arranged to take place on a date after the next meeting of the Licensing Board being held in November 2012.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Wednesday 18 July 2013

Wednesday 17 October 2013

Noted that following on from discussion which had taken place earlier in the meeting, future meeting dates of the Local Licensing Forum be re-arranged to avoid clashes with Easter, Summer and Winter holidays.