Agenda and minutes

With reference to article 1 of the minute of the previous meeting, the Forum heard from Vikki Cuthbert who advised that Craig Adams had indicated that he would be willing to become the new Convener of the Forum. 

The Forum resolved:-

to defer the item to the next meeting, to allow discussions with Craig Adams to take place.

The Forum received a presentation from Mark Thomson, Project Manager Addaction Alcohol Services in Aberdeen, who provided an outline of the various services offered by Addaction.

Mark advised that there were currently 227 users of the various services with 8 project workers currently employed, and assistance varied from brief intervention in people’s lives to targeted work with people suffering from addiction.  Mark explained that the Service had been in operation since July 2010 with over 1200 individuals using the Service of some description during the last year.

Mark went on to advise the Forum that (1) the service aimed to raise their profile within the City with Licensing Committee/Board members key to their progression, (2) they aimed to reduce alcohol misuse and highlight to services that alcohol is a major problem and (3) service users varied from 18 years old to 92.

Following questions, it was suggested that the Forum could help the Addaction Alcohol Service in some capacity in order to improve partnership working between various services such as Fire, Police and the Health Board.

The Forum resolved:-

(i)                 to note that discussions would take place between Addaction Alcohol Service and various other services of the Forum; and

(ii)               to otherwise thank Mark Thomson for his informative presentation.

The Forum had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 16 February 2012.

The Forum resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record.

The agenda for this meeting can be found at: 

http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=151&MId=2431&Ver=4

With reference to article 4 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Forum had before it the minute of the Licensing Board of 7 February 2012, for information.

The Forum resolved:-

to note the minute.

With reference to article 5 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Forum had before it an updated workplan.

The Forum resolved:-

to note the workplan.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Forum heard from Bob Westland, who advised that the Door Supervisors Working Group had met on a couple of occasions in 2012. It was noted that the Licensing Board membership of the Door Supervisor Working Group would be revised following the local government election in May.

The Forum resolved:-

(i)                 that further information on statistics would be provided to a future meeting; and

(ii)               to otherwise note the information provided.

The Forum heard from Raymond Morrison, Licensing Standards Officer who provided an update in relation to various inspections that had taken place since the last meeting.  Raymond explained that there had been 70 inspections, which included 40 on sales and 22 off sale licenses, and indicated that 8 licensees had been served with a section 14 Compliance Notice.  Raymond concluded that all premises had complied with the issued Notice.

With reference to article 8 of the minute of the previous meeting, Raymond explained that a mock inspection had taken place at The Office, and had lasted roughly two hours.  Members of the Forum were invited to attend the inspection, which Marie-Louise Shaw from NHS Grampian had attended. No other members had been available to attend.

The Forum resolved:-

(i)                 to request that a presentation on a mock inspection be provided at a future meeting;

(ii)               to otherwise note the information provided.

The Forum heard from Sandy Kelman, Alcohol and Drug Partnership, who provided a verbal update on progress with using City Voice to gather data on licensing issues in the city.

Sandy explained that the Alcohol and Drug Partnership had developed a questionnaire which included 18 different questions to gather information on individual alcohol use, and would submit this to the editorial board of City Voice on 9 May 2012.  If this is successful then the questionnaire would be issued to the Citizen’s Panel in June, with the results due to be returned in September.

The Forum resolved:-

(i)                 to note that the results of the questionnaire would be brought to a future meeting; and

(ii)               to otherwise note the information provided.

The Forum had circulated a copy of a recent survey which had been undertaken on behalf of the Civic Forum gathering views on alcohol and young people from 220 individuals throughout Scotland.

The survey showed that (1) 41.8% of respondents were aged 17; (2) 25.5% consumed alcohol twice a month; (3) 58.2% believed that cafes that served low alcohol content alcohol would be a positive thing; and (4) 52.7% believed that underage drinking was a problem in their neighbourhood.  Also included in the results of the survey were responses to the question “Do you have any idea how to combat underage drinking?”

Barry Black advised that the survey had been undertaken over the previous couple of months and aimed to establish the attitude of young people towards alcohol use.  It was noted that the survey had not yet been submitted to the Civic Forum.

The Forum resolved:-

(i)                 to request that the survey be brought back to a future meeting after discussion at the Civic Forum; and

(ii)               to otherwise note the survey results.

With reference to the minute of its previous meeting, the Forum had before it a draft agenda and workplan in a revised format, as requested.

The Forum resolved:-

that the new style of agenda and workplan be used for future meetings of the Forum.

The Forum discussed various ways that they could work together with the new members of the Licensing Board, and discussed possible agenda items for a future joint meeting, after the election of a new Board following the local government election in May.

It was suggested that a “training style” meeting be held, with presentations given under the five licensing objectives. This could be used to assist Board members become familiar with the purpose of the Forum.

It was also suggested that should a joint meeting be held with the Forum and the new members of the Licensing Board, that the Training Resource DVD for Local Licensing Forum Members be shown.

The Forum resolved:-

that the clerk contact the Chair of the Licensing Board to discuss the proposals for the next joint meeting and report back.

The Chairperson declared the meeting open for any other competent business, whereupon (a) Sandy Kelman, Alcohol and Drug Partnership highlighted that he had noticed a steady increase in the various types of 0% alcohol now available; and (b) Inspector John Soutar explained that the Alcohol and Drug Partnership had funded UNIGHT to undertake a “Is it Worth It?” campaign, which had been filmed and was due to be completed in May before a launch in time for the 2012-13 school curriculum.  It was noted that the film would be shown to pupils in S3-S6.  Inspector Soutar indicated that all members of the Forum would be invited to the launch and details would be circulated in due course.

The Forum resolved:-

to note the information provided.

The Forum noted that the date of the next meeting was 21 June 2012 at 2.00pm.

 - GEORGE WYATT, Vice Convener