This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Licensing Bill before Parliament
16/11/2005
The Scottish Parliament tonight voted to approve the Licensing (Scotland) Bill.
In advance of the debate, Deputy Finance and Public Service Reform Minister George Lyon said:
"The Executive is committed to the most radical overhaul of our outdated licensing laws in a generation to help tackle anti-social behaviour fuelled by alcohol."
The Bill is designed to break the link between irresponsible drinking and crime by:
- Reforming outdated licensing laws
- Tackling under-age drinking
- Cracking down on binge drinking
- Supporting communities
The proposed new licensing regime will come fully into effect by Autumn 2009, but some measures will come into force before then.
Mr Lyon said:
"There is no doubt Scotland has an appalling record on alcohol. We have an uneasy relationship with alcohol and the financial and human cost of irresponsible drinking is enormous.
"Far too many Scots are drinking harder, earlier and quicker than ever before and this affects every area of Scottish life today. We have rising levels of alcohol-related crime, anti-social behaviour in our communities, more days lost at work through drink-related illness and higher levels of domestic violence, often involving children.
"It is not a stand-alone solution, but an important part of our progress towards tackling the problems caused to people and communities across Scotland every single day by alcohol.
"Our legislation will also clearly support responsible members of the licensed trade and provide the flexibility, which is important to allow for future business innovation and development.
"I believe this Bill takes a common-sense approach, balancing the needs of the licensed trade for a modern and responsive licensing system against our wider aims to change our cultural attitude to alcohol.
"At the heart of the Bill is a clear determination to tackle the anti-social behaviour irresponsible drinking can cause. It will allow greater scope for local solutions to be delivered to local problems, with local people given more of a say on licensing in their communities. The overprovision of licensed premises which can leave local communities feeling powerless will also be directly tackled.
"Our Bill aims to deliver greater flexibility for Licensing Boards to shape local licensing policy. Crucially, opening hours will be tailored to suit the premises and local needs. So, if a premises is causing a problem, earlier closing is now a real available option to Boards. There is also a statutory provision against 24 hour drinking."
The Bill aims to:
- Establish a clear, effective and mandatory national framework which will include standard national licence conditions covering key issues
- Abolish the outdated system of seven licences and statutory opening hours, replacing them with two new licences - personal and premises licence
- Take a sensible 'premises by premises' approach to opening hours authorised by local Licensing Boards in line with the new licensing principles coupled with a statutory presumption against 24 hour opening
- Emphasis on mandatory training
- Tougher enforcement - wider range of sanctions and new Licensing Standards Officer
Under-age drinking is addressed by:
- A requirement for all licensees to operate on a no-proof no-sale basis
- A requirement for on-sales premises who want to allow access by children to set out their plans in their operating plan for approval by the Board - emphasis on making family access easy to suitable premises
- Introducing test purchasing
- Overhauling under-age drinking offences
Binge drinking is addressed by:
- A crackdown on 'irresponsible promotional activities' - a new policy which will ensure drinks have to be sold at the same price for at least 72 hours and a ban on specific irresponsible promotions such 'happy hours' that encourage binge and speed drinking like two-for-ones
Communities are involved by:
- A new approach to overprovision for all licensed premises - Boards to conduct over-provision assessments and block licences in saturated hot-spots
- Any person can object or make representations to a licence application
- Key role of mediation for Licensing Standards Officers between trade and community to help sort out problems at local level
- Local licensing forums with community representation with role of commenting on Board's proposed policies
- To protect the unique nature of clubs and their place in communities, the Scottish Minister would be provided with a regulatory power to exempt very small clubs should they meet certain conditions set out in the Bill
Ministers have agreed milestones for transition to the new regime:
- By October 2006 - all accompanying regulations and draft statutory guidance published for three month formal consultation
- By February 2007 - regulations and guidance laid before the Scottish Parliament
- May 2007 - Appointment of new Boards following Local Government Elections
- June 2007 to November 2007 - Six month period for Boards to prepare licensing policy statements and conduct overprovision assessments. Final versions would then be published and widely available two months prior to the start of transition. Appointment of Licensing Standards Officers and local Forums by Local Authorities would also take place in this period
Ministers have endorsed the framework that envisages:
- There would be a 'big bang' transition where all licences under the new system and the majority of the provisions of the Licensing Act take effect on a single appointed day following a transition period
- The acceptable transition period would be approx 18 months from February 2008