The Scottish Government

Consultation on the draft Gambling Act 2005 (Licensing Authority Policy Statement) ( Scotland ) Regulations 2006

List of consultees at Annex

Public Service Reform Group
Local Governance and Licensing Division
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

Telephone: 0131-244 3199

Fax: 0131-244 7058

ken.mckenna@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

http://www.scotland.gov.uk

Your ref:

Our ref: Section 349 regulations consultation

5 December 2005

Dear Sir/Madam

Consultation on the draft Gambling Act 2005 (Licensing Authority Policy Statement) ( Scotland) Regulations 2006

I am writing to advise you that the Scottish Executive is undertaking a consultation on draft regulations which set out the form of licensing authorities' policy statements, the procedures to be followed in relation to them and their publication. A very similar consultation exercise is taking place in England and Wales. There are no particularly Scottish elements in what is being proposed.

Background

The Gambling Act 2005 (the Act) gives licensing authorities (Licensing Boards in Scotland) a range of new powers to license gambling premises in their communities and requires licensing authorities to perform a number of different functions. These include issuing premises licences, temporary use notices and a range of permits and other permissions. To assist authorities in this task, and to provide transparency for those wishing to apply to an authority for a permission under the Act, all authorities are required to prepare and publish a licensing policy statement.

Section 349 of the Act sets out the procedures licensing authorities must follow in preparing such a policy. Following widespread consultation, authorities will publish a licensing policy statement describing the principles they intend to apply in exercising their various functions. The policy will have effect for three years, but the authority may review and alter the policy during that period. The Scottish Ministers (the Secretary of State in England and Wales) have the power to make regulations about the statements, procedures and their publication. An order of the Secretary of State will determine the first day of the initial three-year period.

I attach a draft of the regulations the Scottish Ministers would like to lay before the Scottish Parliament and we would welcome your comments on the draft. If made, these regulations would be subject to the "negative resolution" procedure and would set out the:

• form of statements;
• procedure to be followed in relation to the preparation, review or revision of statements; and
• publication of statements.

Steps have been taken to ensure that both the regulations made by Scottish Ministers under section 349 and the guidance issued by the Gambling Commission (the new regulatory body for Great Britain) under section 25 of the Act complement each other. This will help to ensure consistency of approach and that sufficient information is available to authorities and other interested persons either through the regulations or via the guidance.

Section 349 of the Gambling Act requires licensing authorities to set out the principles that they propose to apply in exercising their functions under the Act. The content of the policy statement is therefore determined by the Act itself. However, it seems appropriate for the regulations to prescribe a number of matters that must be dealt with separately in the licensing policy statement. This will ensure that the licensing authorities' approach to certain fundamental functions is readily identifiable to businesses and individuals who are concerned with premises licensing. In addition, it gives minimum requirements to authorities about how policy statements are to be approached and the level of detail that is required in relation to particular matters.

A copy of the Gambling Act can be obtained from The Stationery Office at TSO Scotland Bookshop, 71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ tel: 0870 606 5566 or e-mail: Edinburgh.bookshop@tso.co.uk or can be viewed on the following website http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2005/20050019.htm

Responding to this consultation

We are inviting written responses to this consultation by Friday 24 February 2006. Please send your response to: ken.mckenna@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
or

Ken McKenna
Local Governance and Licensing Division
Scottish Executive
Mail Point 32
3-H South
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

If you have any queries contact Ken McKenna on 0131 244 3199

This consultation, and all other Scottish Executive consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Executive now has an email alert system for consultations ( SEconsult: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form enclosed with this consultation paper as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Executive is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public (see the attached Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by 24 March 2006. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SE Library on 0131 244 4565. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next ?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on the final shape of the regulations. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by April 2006 and the outcome of the consultation will help to inform the final version of the regulations that will be laid before the Scottish Parliament.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to the contact point as detailed above.

Yours faithfully

Ken McKenna

RESPONDENT INFORMATION FORM: CONSULTATION ON THE DRAFT GAMBLING ACT 2005 (LICENSING AUTHORITY POLICY STATEMENT) (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2006

Please complete the details below and return it with your response. This will help ensure we handle your response appropriately. Thank you for your help.

Name:

Postal Address:

1. Are you responding: (please tick one box)

INDIVIDUALS

2a. Do you agree to your response being made available to the public (in the Scottish Executive library and/or on the Scottish Executive website)?

2b. Where confidentiality is not requested, we will make your response available to the public on the following basis ( please tick one of the following boxes)

ON BEHALF OF GROUPS OR ORGANISATIONS:

3 The name and address of your organisation will be made available to the public (in the Scottish Executive library and/or on the SE website). Are you also content for your response to be made available?

SHARING RESPONSES/FUTURE ENGAGEMENT

4 We will share your response internally with other Scottish Executive policy teams who may be addressing the issues you discuss. They may wish to contact you again in the future, but we require your permission to do so. Are you content for the Scottish Executive to contact you again in the future in relation to this consultation response?

THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE CONSULTATION PROCESS

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Executive working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Executive, there are many varied types of consultation. However, in general, Scottish Executive consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.

The Scottish Executive encourages consultation that is thorough, effective and appropriate to the issue under consideration and the nature of the target audience. Consultation exercises take account of a wide range of factors, and no two exercises are likely to be the same.

Typically Scottish Executive consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the issue, and they are also placed on the Scottish Executive web site enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses [1]. Consultation exercises may also involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as through public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises. Copies of all the written responses received to a consultation exercise (except those where the individual or organisation requested confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Executive library at Saughton House, Edinburgh (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4565).

All Scottish Executive consultation papers and related publications (eg, analysis of response reports) can be accessed at: Scottish Executive consultations (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations)

The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

· indicate the need for policy development or review

· inform the development of a particular policy

· help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals

· be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

Final decisions on the issues under consideration will also take account of a range of other factors, including other available information and research evidence.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

1 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations

List of Consultees

Licensing Boards

Chief Executives of Scottish Local Authorities

COSLA

Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland

Chief Constables

Legal interests

Gambling operators and gambling industry trade associations

Gambling help/charity groups

Hospitality groups

Faith groups

Gambling Commission

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Draft Regulations For Consultation

SCOTTISH STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

2006 No.

Betting, Gaming and Lotteries, Scotland

Gambling Act 2005 (Licensing Authority Policy Statement) (Scotland) Regulations 2006

Made - - - - [ ] 2006

Laid before the Scottish Parliament [ ] 2006

Coming into force - - [ ] 2006