Agenda item

1.

Minute of Previous Meeting of 17 September

To note that on page 3, the data referred to by Chris Littlejohn had come from the Information Services.

To otherwise approve the minute as a correct record.

N/A

2.

Matters Arising

The Convener welcomed Ken Eddie back to the Forum following his illness.

LSO Report to Licensing Board

Tara-Erin Gilchrist advised that the report was still awaiting approval and had not yet been to the Licensing Board.  She suggested that it would be available to include on the Forum agenda for February.

Engagement with Community Councils

The Convener reported that he, Heather Wilson and Shamini Omnes had attended a recent meeting of the Community Council Forum.

Joint Meeting of Licensing Board and Local Licensing Forum

The Convener advised that a letter had been sent to the Clerk to the Licensing Board to ask about the discussions at the joint meeting about the inclusion of an aspirational statement, and a response was awaited.  He also advised that at a recent meeting he had attended in Glasgow, the Scottish Government presentation had particularly referred to the inclusion of aspirational statements in licensing policy.

Licensing Objective 4 – Update from NHS and ADP – Services Information Booklet

The Convener advised that DA (formerly known as Drugs Action), the new local alcohol service, was to be launched in January 2015 and Emily Queen and Heather Wilson could liaise around promoting this in documents such as the Services for Homeless booklet.

To note that the LSO report to the Licensing Board should be available for the LLF meeting in February.  This could be included as part of the presentation from Diane / Tara-Erin in February.

Noted.

Noted.  For update at next meeting in February.

Noted.

S Dunsmuir – for agenda

S Kelman

3.

Membership Updates

Steph Dunsmuir advised that the Youth Council had not been in touch to provide details of their new member, as had been agreed at the previous meeting.  She undertook to contact them again to ask for details.

Steph Dunsmuir to contact the Youth Council in relation to their membership on the Forum.

The Convener noted that there was no representative from the Police in attendance and undertook to raise this outwith the meeting.

S Dunsmuir

4.

Community Councils

The Forum welcomed Karen Rennie, Community Council Liaison Officer to the meeting.  Karen spoke about the various issues which had been raised with her by Community Councils, particularly around the consultation on applications from the Licensing team.  She explained that Community Councils received a letter with notification about applications, but this did not include the application itself.  Karen advised that she was following this up with the Licensing team to try to get more detailed information for Community Councils.  She had also suggested that the information should be issued to Community Councils electronically to enable them to circulate it amongst members more quickly.

Karen advised that the Community Council Forum had not been aware of the various statistics which were presented to the LLF.  The CC Forum were keen to find out where Community Councils could be involved.  She added that more information was needed by CCs to enable them to determine whether or not to object to an application, and the Forum would welcome guidance and training on how to facilitate objections.

The key themes for the CC Forum were a lack of awareness in relation to alcohol issues affecting their area; lack of knowledge around the decision making process; as well as a lack of resource to input to that process.

Karen added that the Community Councils would welcome any support which the Local Licensing Forum could provide.

The Convener advised that he and Heather Wilson were contacting other Local Authorities to see how their Licensing Boards operated, particularly in relation to whether objectors had a ‘right to reply’ to anything which had been added in as part of an applicant submission.  The Forum noted the variety of approaches across Scotland in applying the Act.

The LLF discussed how these issues could possibly be overcome – for example:-

·         better notifications

·         consulting with Community Councils in a way which made it easy for them to respond

·         a more accessible website

·         making Board meetings less daunting / formal for the public

·         practical guidance in relation to making an objection

·         Community Councils working closely with key stakeholders on objections

The Forum suggested that the Community Council forum might wish to consider sending a representative to LLF meetings who could then provide feedback to the CC Forum.

The Convener proposed that the LLF could discuss the issue of engagement with Community Councils with the Licensing Board, and suggested that if a representative from the CC Forum could attend the next LLF meeting, they could have further discussion with them on the topic, and the LLF could then write to the Board with any concerns / suggestions.  He suggested that Health could contact the Licensing Board with comments from their perspective and then a further letter could be sent once the Forum had met with the CC representative.

Heather mentioned accessibility to information about licence variations and the fact there was sometimes a lack of information as to what the variation was.

The Forum acknowledged that there was also a learning curve for the Police and Health in terms of how to format their objections but added that they would be happy to share their knowledge with the Community Councils.

The Convener mentioned work in relation to Glasgow Licensing Board and Community Council involvement which had been highlighted at the National Licensing conference and suggested that it might be worth approaching the company which had undertaken the work to identify if there was any learning which could be shared with Aberdeen.

Karen advised that there was a CC Forum meeting the following week and said that she would raise CC member training at that meeting.

There was the suggestion that prompts on the template on the Licensing website would make it easier for Community Councils to make objections, although the Vice Convener had concerns that it would be seen to be encouraging objections, and might lead to frivolous or vexatious objections.  The Convener noted that the latter types of objections would not go forward, but added that training for Community Councils would assist.  Heather added that Community Councils could also put in letters of support, noting that the process should work both ways.

Tara-Erin Gilchrist advised that she and Diane Sande would also be happy to meet with Community Councils.

K Rennie to take back to Community Council Forum

Health / Police

5.

Workshop Session – Data

The Forum received a presentation from Dave Bliss in relation to outcomes and data collection (see attached bullet points for discussion)

The Forum agreed that it would helpful to focus on a particular Licensing Objective at each meeting and have a workshop session to discuss the outcomes around each objective.

The discussion around Licensing Objective 1 was not concluded, and the Forum agreed to continue the session at its next meeting.  Emily Queen advised that she was able to pass on data she received in terms of the breakdown of alcohol-related crime in the city centre.

S Dunsmuir – for future agendas

E Queen – to bring data to next workshop session