Dundee Licensing Forum - 11/12/2018
At a MEETING of the DUNDEE LOCAL LICENSING FORUM held at Dundee on 11th December, 2018.
Present:-
Michael GORMLEY, C J Lang
Morag BEATTIE, Licensing Trainer
John BLACK, Licensee
Sarah CRAIG, City Centre Manager
Emma FLETCHER, Public Health, NHS Tayside
David GLASS, Licensee
Councillor Brian GORDON, Licensing Board Member
Simon GOULDING, Licensing Standards Officer
Paul HOGAN, Licensing Standards Officer
Vered HOPKINS, Alcohol and Drug Partnership
Ian KINSEY, Community Member
Elaine KUWAHARA, Community Member
Maureen MORAN, Legal
In Attendance:-
Frances GILLIES, Graduate Trainee Environmental Health Officer
Michael GORMLEY, in the Chair.
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.
I APOLOGIES
Apologies were intimated from Sandy Kingston, Yvonne Tosh, Garvie Jamieson, Neil Kerr, Ryan Macdonald, Joely Nicol, Sarah Anderson and Jonathan Stewart.
II MINUTE OF MEETING OF DUNDEE LICENSING FORUM OF 11TH SEPTEMBER, 2018
The minute of the above meeting was submitted and approved.
III ACTIONS
(i) NEW MEMBERS
The Chair welcomed the new community members, Elaine Kuwahara and Ian Kinsey, to the meeting.
(ii) HEALTH BOARD AND HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PARTNERSHIP MEMBERS
The Chair welcomed Emma Fletcher (Consultant in Public Health Medicine) and Vered Hopkins (Alcohol and Drug Partnership) to the meeting. Emma explained that as well as her role in Public Health, she also teaches at University two and a half days a week. She is involved in health intelligence and ways of improving public health. It was agreed that Emma would bring relevant statistics to the next Forum.
Vered explained that she is a Lead Officer for protecting people and the ADP sits within a protecting people approach along with violence against women, adult protection etc. The ADP is made up of representatives from Dundee City Council, NHS, voluntary organisations etc. They take a holistic approach. Funding for the ADP is received directly from the Scottish Government.
(iii) SINGLE USE PLASTICS UPDATE
Reference was made to the briefing note on the current position in relation to single use plastics provided by Dundee City Council Waste Team.
The Forum noted the initial pilot that would take place in Council premises and the initiatives that were being broadened out to the commercial sector.
The Forum also noted that representatives from the Waste Team would attend a future Forum to explore how a joint approach to initiatives could be progressed. Licensees informed the Forum that the use of alternatives to single use plastics were being promoted in the licensed trade.
(iv) RED/YELLOW CARD UPDATE
Sarah reported that she was awaiting an update from Police Scotland and would follow this up.
(v) ASK FOR ANGELA UPDATE
Sarah reported that this initiative was launched at DUSA two weeks ago. The Forum noted that joint training is being undertaken by Police Scotland and the Womens Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre in pubs and clubs across the City. The Chair referred to a video that he had viewed at a recent event and suggested that it is shown at the next Forum meeting.
(vi) DUNCAN SCHEME UPDATE
Sarah reported that the scheme had been recently refreshed. There was a new scheme Administrator and new folders had been produced which would be issued soon. The Committee noted that Sarah would be meeting with representatives from the Broughty Ferry Licensed Trade on the last Tuesday of every month from January 2019.
(vii) TRAINING AND REFRESHER SCHEME UPDATE
Simon informed the Forum that further information had been received from the Scottish Government. It had been confirmed that only the refresher course needs to be undertaken for renewal of a personal licence. A Steering Group was discussing a new training package that would supersede current training. There would be a cut-off date for accepting old training certificates.
In relation to immigration checks from 1st October, 2018, Simon informed the Forum that he contacted the Scottish Government and was informed that this wont be implemented until mid 2019.
The Chair reported that there were issues with Licensing Boards across the country requiring different forms of identification for Personal Licence applications. He said that at a recent event he had attended, it had been suggested that Local Licensing Forums should write to Peter Reid, Head of Licensing, Scottish Government, to make him aware of the differences. Simon said that as the applications are already in statutory instrument, Licensing Boards should not amend applications other than to add their Council headers. The Chair explained that there had not been any issues in Dundee and Maureen advised that she did not think that correspondence to the Scottish Government was required.
(viii) YOUNG SCOT PASS CARD UPDATE
Simon informed the Forum that the Young Scot Card is the preferred option for proof of age rather than young people taking passports or driving licences with them on a night out.
There had been issues in the past in relation to security issues however, these had been resolved as the date of birth on the cards can no longer be tampered with. If a licensee accepts a card that appears to be genuine but has been altered, Simon confirmed that the licensee would not have committed an offence.
(ix) LICENSING BOARD CONSULTATION RESPONSE
The Forum noted that the response had been sent to the Licensing Board on the consultation.
The Chair noted his thanks to everyone involved in getting the response submitted.
IV MEETING WITH ALCOHOL FOCUS SCOTLAND
It was noted that Sandy would like to meet with representatives from Alcohol Focus Scotland with a view to them providing some development for the Forum. It was reported that the National Co‑ordinator post was currently vacant but Vered would try to facilitate a discussion.
V DUNDEE LOCAL LICENSING FORUM OBJECTIVES FOR 2019
Forum members were asked to consider what they thought the objectives should be for the Forum in 2019. This would be further discussed at the next meeting.
VI ITEMS FOR NOTING
(i) CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING PROPOSED ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL LICENSING FORUM
Reference was made to the letter received from East Ayrshire Council relative to the above. The Forum noted that the matter would not be pursued further due to a lack of interest from Licensing Forums.
(ii) ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR
The election for the positions of Chair and Vice-Chair would take place at the next meeting.
(iii) FORUM DATES FOR 2019
The Forum agreed the following meeting dates for 2019:-
Tuesday, 19th March
Tuesday, 18th June
Wednesday, 11th September
Thursday, 12th December
All meetings would take place in Committee Room 3, 14 City Square and would start at 2.00 pm.
VII AOCB
(i) IMPACT OF MINIMUM UNIT PRICING
Vered informed the Forum that she thought that the impact of minimum unit pricing should be a priority for the Forum. Alcohol Focus Scotland have an initial report on the evaluation of the policy and have contacted representatives in Dundee to take part in a focus group.
Simon reported that visits to premises were still being conducted. There were some small issues identified as licence holders were using the units on bottles to work out prices rather than using the formula.
VIII DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would take place on Tuesday, 19th March, 2019 at 2 pm in Committee Room 3, 14 City Square.