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The Nicholson Committee: Review of Liquor Licensing Law in Scotland
CHAPTER 10
A NATIONAL LICENSING FORUM
10.1 Many of our consultees have said to us that it is undesirable that a matter so important as liquor licensing law and practice should be subject to review at only very infrequent intervals. It has been said (no doubt rightly) that, if new legislation is introduced in order to give effect to the recommendations contained in this report, it is likely that for some time thereafter there may be problems about implementation notwithstanding the best efforts of the legal draftsmen. It has also been said that, since drinking habits and associated problems relative to public health and public order can change very quickly, 1 it is desirable that there should be a means whereby further legislative intervention of an informed kind can take place with a minimum of delay. For reasons such as those it has been suggested to us that there would be advantage in having a national body which would keep such matters under regular review, and which would report on a regular basis to the relevant Ministers.
10.2 We can see great force in the foregoing suggestion, and we therefore consider that it would be appropriate that a body of the kind proposed should be brought into existence. There are then two questions to be considered. First, what should be the composition and status of such a new body? And second, what should be its duties and responsibilities?
10.3 As to the first of these questions we are aware of the fact that there is already in existence a body which, albeit in a very different context, meets many of the criteria for the kind of body that we are contemplating. That is the Criminal Justice Forum. That body, which was first created some years ago, brings together a number of people from a wide variety of backgrounds within the criminal justice system. The members of the Forum are all appointed individually by the Minister for Justice, and he regularly chairs its meetings which take place three or four times a year. The Criminal Justice Forum focuses its attention, often at the request of the Minister, on a wide range of issues of current or impending importance within the field of criminal justice and, sometimes as the result of work undertaken by sub-groups, it offers suggestions and advice as to the shape of future policy. The Criminal Justice Forum has administrative and secretarial support and assistance from officials within the Justice Department, and it can, as necessary, call upon the services of the Central Research Unit for appropriate research and data.
10.4 We are of the view that the Criminal Justice Forum offers a helpful model for the body which we are contemplating, and which, we suggest, might be called the National Licensing Forum. Given the range of issues which that body is likely to have to consider, we suggest that it should fall under the joint Ministerial responsibility of the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Health. Those Ministers might, we suggest, chair meetings jointly, or possibly alternately. Members of the National Licensing Forum should, as in the case of the Criminal Justice Forum, be appointed directly by the Ministers, and we suggest that they might come from the following backgrounds:
- Licensed trade organisations
- Law Society of Scotland
- Judiciary
- Licensing boards
- ACPO(S)
- COSLA
- Scottish Consumer Council
- Association of Directors of Social Work
- Association of Directors of Education
- Association of Directors of Public Health
- Inter-Collegiate Alcohol Group
- SACAM
- Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
- SOLAR
- Youth organisations
- Alcohol Focus Scotland
There may be other potential sources for membership, but the above list gives an indication of the spread of membership which we regard as desirable.
10.5 So far as the duties and responsibilities of a National Licensing Forum are concerned we imagine that, as in the case of the Criminal Justice Forum, some of them will arise from time to time in response to emerging problems and concerns; and in some instances, no doubt, Ministers will directly seek the advice of the Forum on particular topics. In the early days after the introduction of new legislation it is likely that various problems will emerge, and the Forum would have a considerable input into their resolution. Later in this report 2 we suggest that an early task for the Forum should be to formulate standard conditions in relation to the admission of children to licensed premises. We think that the Forum should advise Ministers in relation to defining the content of training programmes and the accreditation of training courses and training providers. We consider that the Forum might assist in the formulation of advice and guidance to be promulgated to licensing boards. 3 Given that we have suggested elsewhere 4 that there should in future be statutory licensing forums in all licensing board areas, we consider that a local forum should be entitled to bring to the attention of the National Licensing Forum any issues or concerns which are of more than purely local importance. Indeed, there may be a case for requiring local forums to submit an annual report to the National Forum. Most importantly, we consider that the National Forum should be provided on a regular basis with licensing statistics, with statistics showing the incidence of offences linked to the consumption of alcohol, and with appropriate health statistics.
10.6 For all of the foregoing reasons we recommend:
47. A National Licensing Forum should be established. Its members, who should be appointed individually by the Minister for Justice or the Minister for Health, should be drawn from a wide range of relevant backgrounds. The Forum should meet periodically under the chairmanship of the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Health, or one or other of them, and its task should be to keep licensing law and practice under constant review, and to offer advice to Ministers as to ways of dealing with emerging problems or difficulties.
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