Agenda and minutes

The Convener opened the meeting and nominated Stuart McPhee (Unight) as the representative of the licensed trade on the Forum. This nomination was seconded by Gillian Flett and thereafter the Forum agreed to appoint Stuart McPhee as a voting member on the Forum.

The Convener nominated Stuart McPhee as Vice Convener of the Forum, seconded by Gillian Flett and thereafter the Forum agreed to appoint Stuart McPhee as Vice Convener of the Forum.

The Clerk advised that the Aberdeen Youth Council had nominated Alexander McClellan as the Young Persons representative on the Forum, with Struan King as their substitute member. As neither Mr McClellan nor Mr King were present, the Forum agreed to defer this appointment until a representative was in attendance at a Forum meeting.

The Clerk highlighted that there was still an Off Sales membership vacancy and Diane Sande advised that this process was ongoing and LSOs would continue to advertise this vacancy amongst their contact lists.

To approve the minute as a correct record.

(i)            With reference to Item 3(i) Diane Sande advised that she had arranged a meeting date with the Clerk to the Licensing Board to discuss the reporting arrangements for LSO 2013/14 report and the Convener requested that she inform the Clerk to the Board of the Forum’s disappointment with regards to progress on this matter;

(ii)           With reference to Item 3(ii) (Young Persons Representative) the Clerk advised that this issue had been resolved under Item 3 of today’s agenda;

(iii)          With reference to Item 3(iii) (Forum meeting dates) the Clerk advised that this issue would be covered under Item 4 of today’s agenda;

(iv)         With reference to Item 4 (Membership Updates) the Convener advised that membership issues had been resolved or actioned under Item 3 of today’s agenda;

(v)          With reference to Item 5 (Young people and alcohol related crime)  the Clerk advised that this item would be covered under Item 5 of today’s agenda;

(vi)          With reference to Item 6 (Aspirational Statement), Item 7 (Response to SLP 2016-19) and Item 9 (Alcohol impact on health and wellbeing) the Convener advised that these items would be resolved or actioned under Item 6 of today’s agenda;

(vii)        With reference to Item 15 (Licensing Objective 5 update) Dave Bliss advised that he would provide information on the link between Child Sex Exploitation (CSE) and alcohol abuse to inform the Forum’s response to the Licensing Board’s consultation on the Statement of Licensing Policy (SLP) 2016-19; and

(viii)   With reference to Item 16 (Progress Statement) the Clerk advised that the relevant changes to the Progress Statement had been actioned and this was reflected under Item 10 of today’s agenda.

The Clerk presented the draft meeting schedule for 2016 and advised that after consultation with members there remained a preference for retaining the current arrangement of holding meetings commencing at 2pm, to be held at the Town House on an eight weekly cycle notwithstanding the summer recess.

The dates of the meetings were as follows:-

12 January 2016;

16 March 2016;

25 May 2016;

13 September 2016; and

15 November 2016.

Thereafter members asked the Clerk to check if any of the meeting dates clashed with meetings of the Licensing Board and the Clerk agreed to report back after this had been conducted.

The Clerk informed the Forum that he had begun discussions with the Clerk to the Licensing Board on a date for the Joint Meeting of the Licensing Board and Forum and he anticipated that this would be scheduled for early June, before the Council’s Summer Recess.

Peter Lees presented the findings from the Community Safety Partnership’s Young People and Alcohol Related Crime report and he highlighted recent demographic trends in terms of alcohol related crime within and out with Aberdeen city centre. Mr Lees advised that there were comparatively few serious offences recorded involving young people who had been under the influence of alcohol but asserted that it was more likely to occur once a young person had reached fifteen years of age.

Thereafter there were questions on how the Police recorded where offenders received or purchased alcohol and Gillian Flett advised that she would liaise with the Youth Justice team and provide an update on this issue at the next meeting. Further to this, there were also questions on the gender split amongst recorded offenders; the effectiveness of the ‘Is it worth it?’ campaign and the findings from the latest Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS).

The Convener appended a draft letter that subject to the Forum’s approval, would be submitted to the Convener of the Licensing Board. He advised that the letter contained eight draft recommendations which had been developed by the SLP Working Group and he requested that members review the recommendations and provide feedback and proposals for amendment before the next meeting when a fuller draft would be presented to the Forum for final approval ahead of submission to the Convener of the Licensing Board by 18 January 2016.

Thereafter the Convener spoke to the recommendations and members highlighted areas that needed expanded upon; clarified or further evidenced.

Shamini Omnes spoke to the Forum about the Safer Torry Pilot Study conducted by the Safer Torry Partnership, and she explained that the aim of the study was to assess the impact of the alcohol and domestic abuse preventative model in Torry.

Ms Omnes advised that the pilot study had adopted a multi-agency approach using both targeted and universal communication methods; and numerous training and awareness events had been organised and facilitated by Public Health colleagues. She highlighted that a comparatively low number of participants took part in the study which she attributed to stigmatisation but explained that the study had helped with signposting and provided support for participants from non-English speaking backgrounds. Ms Omnes also highlighted that the pilot study had been beneficial in the development of case studies and provided further information on referrals. She further advised that the Safer Torry Partnership would be evaluating the study following the 16 days of action campaign in November/December 2015.

Heather Wilson advised that the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership had placed the survey to learn more about the level of public awareness on the Licensing Board’s Statement of Licensing Policy (SLP); in addition to the impact of alcohol provision within the city’s communities. She explained that 629 respondents took part in the survey, of which 84% of them were not aware of the Board’s SLP. Further to this, respondents identified various factors that could influence the development of the next SLP and these were largely in line with current strategies. In this regard respondents highlighted the importance of mapping; and premise location and density within neighbourhoods as areas in need of further development.

The Clerk advised that he would cascade a web link which held the full report and a short summary of all the responses to Forum members and co-optees.

Gillian Flett explained that Police Scotland were preparing their response to the Licensing Board’s consultation on the Statement of Licensing Policy (SLP) 2016-19 and their submission would have an increased focus on the Board’s policy with regards to the overprovision of alcohol within communities. Sgt Flett also highlighted that Police Scotland would be providing the Board with statistical information on the location of offences and their proximity to off licenses and they would recommend that the Board interpret this data and draw their own conclusions.

She also informed the Forum that Police Scotland would be monitoring the number of venues with extended licenses over the festive period and would report back to the Forum on its impact.

No further update.

Stuart McPhee informed the Forum that Unight were looking to increase the number of members and this expansion would also include venues that did not hold late night licenses. Mr McPhee advised that this would make Unight a more representative body and would also help with the collation of performance information and the development of a database.

The Convener provided an update on the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership’s most recent quarterly statistics; in addition to the number of referrals and service users. Thereafter Shamini Omnes and Heather Wilson advised that NHS Grampian and Public Health had also begun to prepare their responses for the Licensing Board’s consultation on the Statement of Licensing Policy (SLP) 2016-19.

No further update.

The Clerk spoke to the Progress Report and advised the Forum of the items which should be inserted and removed from the report.