Agenda item

The Convener referred to the letter sent by the Forum to the Board in April 2013 which suggested how the Policy could be measured and evaluated.  He asked how the Board would evaluate the Policy in 2016 against the Licensing Objectives to know if it had been successful.  He advised that he and the Clerk to the Licensing Forum had attended a meeting with a representative from Alcohol Focus Scotland where it had become apparent that the Aberdeen policy and the Local Licensing Forum were seen as being good examples in comparison to some of the other Scottish areas.  He added that the Forum had recently considered how to measure the impact of the statistics reported to each meeting, as well as the type of information that the Forum should be receiving on a regular basis, and advised that the Forum was to hold a workshop session later in the year to discuss this in more detail.  Given the earlier discussions, he added that members of the Board were welcome to attend that workshop.

Councillor Boulton noted that simply measuring the number of refusals would not necessarily show the impact of the Policy, and added that it was important to note that the context of a decision would not be reflected by simply looking at statistics, or the conditions imposed.  She suggested that the Policy could be measured through other means, such as the retention of the Purple Flag, the relationship between partners, an improved relationship with the media, and the public perception in relation to alcohol.  She referred to the previous City Voice questionnaire and suggested this could be run again in future.  It was suggested that a measure of the Policy’s success could be as straightforward as any adjustments made as a result of the Policy.  Another improvement could be the use of additional information which was being requested from the consultees, as this could have a positive impact on the Board’s decision-making.  Councillor Boulton added that it had been encouraging for the Board to have input at a recent meeting from a local Community Council, and suggested that their attendance and input could also be part of measuring how the Board was improving. 

The Convener referred to the Scottish Government request for statistical information from ADP on legal highs, and advised that this was set out in a red, amber and green format.  He suggested that this might be useful to illustrate statistical information against the five Licensing Objectives.  He added that it would be useful to have a snapshot of the current status against the Objectives and then this could be compared against where things were at the end of the Policy’s lifespan.  He stated that he felt that ADP and the Licensing Forum could support the Board through provision of information and performance data, and suggested that this could be discussed at the workshop to be arranged for later in the year.

The Joint Meeting resolved:-

(i)           to note the suggestions around how performance could be measured and evaluated; and

(ii)          to note that the Local Licensing Forum was to hold a workshop session on this topic later in the year and that the date would be conveyed to the Licensing Board so that they could attend if they wished.