Agenda and minutes

The Clerk advised that the Convener was running slightly late and he would chair the meeting until he arrived. The Clerk proposed to consider item 6 (Health Impact Assessment) as the first item of business and the Forum agreed to this proposal;

Shamini Omnes (Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership) circulated copies of the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) terms of reference and summary questionnaire and outlined the Forum’s proposed role during the development of the assessment. Rohan Mongra (Public Health) provided the Forum with an overview of the methodology and advised that the final assessment would aim to have a broad impact by meeting all five of the licensing objectives. Mr Mongra added that the assessment would focus not only on health issues but wider areas such as general wellbeing. Thereafter Ms Omnes explained that the assessment may produce recommendations for the Board’s consideration but confirmed that a substantive draft would first be submitted to the Forum for feedback.

The Forum Resolved

(i)        to agree to consider item 6 (Health Impact Assessment) as the first item of business;

(ii)        to note the HIA terms of reference and summary questionnaire; and

(iii)       otherwise note the update.

The Forum had before the minute of the previous meeting.

The Forum Resolved

To approve the minute as a correct record.

With reference to item 14 (Membership of Local Licensing Forum), the Clerk advised that as per its statutory duty, Aberdeen City Council had re-established the Forum for the duration of the next Council term and confirmed the Forum’s membership at its statutory meeting on 17 May 2017. He also noted that the Council had resolved not to appoint a member to the Forum.

The Forum Resolved

To note the re-establishment of the Aberdeen City Local Licensing Forum and confirmation of members nominated by the Forum at its meeting on 5 April 2017 for the duration of the next Council term.

The Convener (Police Scotland) welcomed Sarah Wheeler (Unight) onto the Forum as a representative of the licensed trade.

The Convener advised that the post of Vice Convener was vacant and it had been past practice for the Vice Convener to be a representative of the licensed trade to provide balance to the Forum. Thereafter members agreed to appoint Ms Wheeler as Vice Convener.

The Forum Resolved

(i)        to welcome Sarah Wheeler onto the Forum as a voting member representing Unight; and

(ii)        to appoint Sarah Wheeler as the Forum’s Vice Convener.

The Convener proposed a more pro-active direction for the Forum to better enable it to hold the Licensing Board to account. He explained that it was his aim to raise the profile of the Forum through the media in order to expand the membership; raise awareness of the Forum’s role in the licensing process; and provide an avenue for greater public engagement.

Thereafter the Forum discussed:-

• The Board’s decision making process when granting applications out with its Statement of Licensing Policy, with particular reference to significant entertainment licenses;

• The appointment of the new Licensing Board following the Local Government elections in May 2017;

• The legislative requirement for the Board to provide the Forum with performance information to support its advisory function;

• The development of a communication plan for the Forum;

• Rescheduling the provisional date of 6 June 2017 for the Joint Licensing Meeting due to the General Election;

• The option to hold Forum meetings out with the Town House; and

• How the Forum could expand its membership and be more representative to a wider range of licensing stakeholders.

The Forum Resolved

(i)        to instruct the Convener to prepare a letter to the Convener of the Licensing Board, in consultation with Forum members requesting an overview of the decision making process on occasions when the Board had granted licensing applications out with its Statement of Licensing Policy;

(ii)       to note that the 6 June 2017 Joint Licensing Meeting has been postponed and to propose to the Licensing Board that the meeting be re-arranged for 31 August 2017;

(iii)      to reschedule the Forum’s next meeting from 6 September to 22 August 2017;

(iv)      to instruct the Clerk to liaise with the Vice Convener to investigate if a future Forum meeting could be held at Soul Bar;

(v)       to request Emily Queen to get in touch with an umbrella group representing Aberdeen off sales premises with a view to identifying an off sales representative to the Forum;

(vi)      to instruct the Clerk to correspond with the Forum’s young person’s representative to gauge his future level of involvement with the Forum;

(vii)     to instruct the Convener to liaise with the Weekend Planning Partnership with a view to identifying a young persons and/or off sales representative to the Forum;

(viii)    to request Miriam Smith to speak to colleagues within Education and Children’s Services with a view to identifying a young person’s representative to the Forum; and

(ix)      to instruct the Convener to liaise with Police Scotland and Aberdeen City Council’s Communication teams with a view to promoting the work of the Forum through the media.

The Convener advised that a number of issues related to this item had been covered during discussion of the previous agenda item and proposed that the Forum defer consideration of this item until its next meeting in August 2017.

The Forum Resolved

To defer consideration of this item of business until the Forum’s next meeting in August 2017.

The Convener provided an update on Operation Taber and noted that the Chief Constable had submitted his licensing report to the new Aberdeen City Licensing Board. The Convener noted that the Licensing team would continue to adopt an operational approach to policing and highlighted that a joint licensing operation was planned for June. He added that Police Scotland was also preparing for the roll out of the national Fit and Proper licensing test and he would be in a better position at the next Forum meeting to provide further detail.

The Forum Resolved

To note the update.

No update provided.

Sarah Wheeler explained that Unight members had undergone by-stander training to enable them to support vulnerable people who had entered their premises. She highlighted that Unight was also supportive of the Ask Angela initiative and Peter Benton and Shamini Omnes advised that they would be happy to provide advice and support to Unight upon request. Ms Wheeler added that Unight had held their annual general meeting in April in which she had been appointed as Chairperson and Secretary of Unight.

The Forum Resolved

To note the update.

Heather Wilson (Alcohol and Drugs Partnership) brought to the Forum’s attention a multi-agency report for the Scottish Government’s consideration during the refresh of its national alcohol strategy. She summarised the report’s recommendations which included a strategic approach to reducing the availability of alcohol and improving existing licensing regulation: the report also found that there were 16 times more licensed premises in Scotland than GP practices.

Ms Wilson advised that the Scottish Government was consulting on a new tax to target high strength, low cost cider. The Forum resolved to submit a response to the consultation and Ms Wilson agreed to lead on this response and would circulate the consultation document for comment and input to Forum members before its submission on 12 June 2017.

Ms Wilson highlighted recent statistics from the Office of National Statistics which found that high earners were more likely to be the heaviest drinkers and young people between the ages of 16-24 were the group least likely to consume alcohol, though when they did so it tended towards binge drinking.

Ms Wilson also referred to a recent court case in which a decision of a licensing board to refuse an application from a major retailer had been upheld as the Board had a health based overprovision policy in place.

Shamini Omnes advised that the Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership was in the process of profiling the four locality areas within Aberdeen City and colleagues from NHS Grampian’s Health Intelligence unit had been assisting with this exercise. Ms Omnes added that a series of public engagement events had been scheduled to provide a forum for community engagement and feedback.

The Forum Resolved

(i)           to request that Heather Wilson prepare the Forum’s response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on a new tax for high strength cider and thereafter to circulate the document to Forum members for feedback and input ahead of submission to the Scottish Government on 12 June 2017; and

(ii)          otherwise note the updates.

Miriam Smith advised that she would speak to the relevant Service Manager within Education and Children’s Services to find out how the Service could more effectively feed into the Forum.

The Forum Resolved

To request that Miriam Smith speak with a relevant Service Manager to discuss how the Service could strengthen its reporting arrangements and links with the Forum.

The Forum had before it the Progress Statement.

The Forum Resolved

To note the Progress Statement.