Agenda and minutes

The Forum discussed the development of a draft Statement of Licensing Policy 2016-19; and the Convener informed members that the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership had considered the draft Aspirational Statement and had concluded that it was a satisfactory initial draft but needed further development to address areas of concern not currently covered in the draft statement.

N/A

(i)            With reference to Item 2(i) 2013/14 LSO Report, Diane Sande advised that the Licensing Board had not approved the report and Convener intimated his disappointment as this report was now out of date and hoped that the 2014/15 report would be approved and made available to the Forum in a more expedite manner;

(ii)           With reference to Item 2(iv) the Convener advised that Chris Cromar was no longer a member of the Forum and Ken Eddie agreed to contact Aberdeen Youth Council regarding their appointment of a new young person’s representative to the Forum;

(iii)          With reference to Item 3 the Convener highlighted his concern with regards to the low turnout of members and co-optees during the current meeting times and intimated that he would investigate the possibility of holding meetings during out of work hours; and

(iv)         With reference to Item 10 the Clerk advised that he would correspond with Ruary Campbell and Adrian Gomes to collate the statistical information on recent trends amongst licenced premises in Aberdeen City.

The Clerk advised that he had contacted all the Forum co-optees but had not received a response from Craig Adams. 

The Clerk advised that the Vice Convener, Ruary Campbell had resigned from the Forum as he no longer worked in Licensed Trade and the Forum would have to appoint a new Vice Convener.

In addition to the on-sales vacancy the Forum also discussed the lack of off-sales representation on the group, and the Licensing Standards Officers advised that they would continue to ask their contacts in both sectors if they would be interested in joining the Forum.

The Clerk advised that Chris Cromar had resigned from the Forum as he was no longer a representative of the Aberdeen Youth Council and explained that he would also correspond with the Chair of the Youth Council on the appointment of a new young person’s representative to the Forum.

The Convener enquired if Police Scotland had determined who would be their permanent representative to the Forum; and Jonathan Lloyd advised that Gillian Flett and himself would share this role and attendance would be based on workload and daily business.

A report by the Aberdeen Community Safety Partnership was appended which provided information on the sobriety levels of young people in Aberdeen City. Members requested that in order to fully grasp the significance of the evidence, a representative from the Community Safety Partnership should be invited to speak to the report to provide greater context to the report’s findings.

The Convener advised that at the Joint Meeting between the Licensing Board and Forum a draft Aspirational Statement for inclusion in the Statement of Licensing Policy 2016-19 had been submitted and the Forum had been requested to consider this statement and report back to the Licensing Board with its recommendations.  Members discussed the statement and agreed that it was balanced but required further development in areas such as the link between alcohol and instances of public nuisance.

The Clerk advised that he had received a note from the Clerk to the Licensing Board which outlined the timetable for the development of the draft Statement of Licensing Policy 2016-19.  He explained that the Clerk to the Licensing Board had requested detailed and evidenced proposals be submitted to the Board no later than 18 January 2016.  To this point, the Convener recommended that a short life working group be established to develop such proposals.  He suggested that the working group would meet two or three times between today’s meeting and the next meeting on 18 November 2015 and would submit their proposals for the approval of the forum at the next meeting.  Further to this he advised that the working group would consist of himself and Heather Wilson but was also open to all Forum members.

The Clerk advised that the survey outlined the challenges faced by licensing forums across Scotland in the recruitment of young people; but there was also particular concern that a number of forums had failed to recruit a representative from the local health board which was a statutory requirement.  Members discussed the report and agreed that the findings were concerning and could impact on the capacity of other forums to fulfil their remits to advise and support their Licensing Boards.

The Forum viewed a short video presentation on Alcohol’s Harm to Others prepared by the Institute of Alcohol Studies and then discussed the accompanying report.  The Convener advised that the Working Group would consider the findings of the report when preparing their recommendations on the draft Aspirational Statement and the draft Statement of Licensing Policy 2016-19.  He also explained that partnership working would be required to tackle this issue and work was ongoing with colleagues from housing and criminal justice.  Further to this, members then discussed the rise in home drinking and highlighted the increase in the number of deaths in Aberdeen City in 2014 related to alcohol abuse and noted that this was a cause for concern.

The Forum had before it MESAS’s Evaluation of Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy which outlined the link between alcohol pricing and sales in Scotland in comparison to the rest of the UK.  The Convener highlighted that 52% of alcohol sold in Scotland was sold at less than 50p per unit and that more beer and cider was sold at less than 50p per unit in supermarkets and off licences than in 2013.  Members then discussed the impact of demographic, economic and regulatory change on alcohol pricing and consumption over the previous 20 years.

Jonathan Lloyd informed the Forum that Aberdeen University’s Freshers Week had passed by without major incident and only five cases of identification offences had been recorded.  Mr Lloyd also advised that Police in Grampian had been using an Itemiser device since 2008 and it use was not related to more recent stop and search procedures.  He further explained that a briefing note was being prepared in order to raise awareness of the Itemiser’s purpose and use.

Diane Sande and Tara-Erin Gilchrist advised that they had visited multiple licensed venues during Freshers Week and had found no major issues and highlighted their encouragement that City Centre premises had been promoting free tap water.  They further explained that they asked managers of licensed premises to minimise the number of flyers, posters and activities which could precipitate complaints and increase public nuisance during this period.

No update.

The Convener advised that funding for the designated place of safety scheme for drunk and incapable individuals would be withdrawn from April 2016.  He further explained that it would be incumbent on relevant partners to monitor developments and manage this in the future and he highlighted that a greater emphasis on personal responsibility may be pursued.

Dave Bliss appended a document which provided information on tackling Child Sex Exploitation (CSE) and he highlighted the detrimental role that alcohol had played in a number of CSE cases and he explained that this link had been extensively evidenced in research.  The Convener welcomed this update and suggested that it was an area omitted from the draft Aspirational Statement and would require further discussion.

With reference to Item 5 the Convener requested that this item be revised to reflect changes in membership and the establishment of a working group which would aim to develop an evidence base to support the Forum’s recommendations to the Licensing Board on the development of a draft Statement of Licensing Policy 2016-19.

The Convener advised the Forum that the Licensing Board would have to consider amending the current Statement of Licensing Policy after a successful appeal against the Board; and

Heather Wilson highlighted that the City Voice Questionnaire would gauge the level of awareness of the Statement of Licensing Policy and other issues pertinent to the availability and consumption of alcohol and the results would be presented at the next meeting.

2pm, 18 November 2015.