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1. INTRODUCTION
In February 2005, following consideration of the independent evaluation carried out by the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) of tobacco test purchasing pilots conducted in 2002-4, the Lord Advocate revised prosecution policy to allow test purchasing of age restricted goods by children and young people under the age of 18, in circumstances where the purchaser is not committing a separate offence. This allowed test purchasing of fireworks, tobacco and other age restricted products, but not alcohol.
In deciding at that time to exclude alcohol from the revised policy the Lord Advocate took account of the fact that under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 it was an offence for a person under 18 to buy or attempt to buy alcoholic liquor in licensed premises or to consume alcoholic liquor in a bar. Moreover, although alcohol test purchasers were likely to be aged 16 and 17, there were still welfare concerns in relation to both the premises that young people would be expected to visit and the fact that they may be more likely to be called to give evidence if the Procurator Fiscal decided to take proceedings.
The Lord Advocate subsequently indicated that he was satisfied in principle that test purchasing of alcohol by children and young people would be an effective means of enforcing the law in this area. An amendment was made, therefore, to the Licensing (Scotland) Bill at Stage 3 to allow for test purchasing of alcohol which ensured that the primacy of welfare of children and young people involved was addressed. It should be noted, though, that: "Under the provisions of section 68(4) of the Act it is not an offence for a person aged 16 or over to purchase beer, wine, made-wine, porter, cider or Perry for consumption with a meal in a part of the premises, usually set apart for the services of table meals, which is not a bar, or in a bar during its regular use as a restaurant. Similarly it is not an offence for someone to sell the alcoholic liquor listed above to such a person aged 16 or over, or for someone to purchase on behalf of the person aged 16 or over" in these circumstances. For this reason, it was decided that when entering on sales licensed premises the test purchaser would only attempt to purchase alcohol at the bar and its purchase would not be linked in any way to the purchase of food.
While satisfied, in principle, that alcohol test purchasing would be an effective enforcement tool, the Lord Advocate remained concerned about the safety and welfare of the young people taking part in test purchasing exercises. It was agreed, therefore, before the relevant provisions of the new Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 are generally commenced (probably 2009), a pilot exercise was to be undertaken. The aim of this pilot, conduced in Fife, was to trial test purchasing arrangements to enable common procedures and operating protocols to be developed to ensure that alcohol test purchasing can be carried out safely, fairly and effectively in a Scottish context.
The Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) was commissioned by the Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Executive Health Directorate in May 2006 to evaluate the Test Purchasing Pilot in Fife. This Final Report covers the methodology adopted by ScotCen for the whole pilot, with the results section focusing on the outcome phase, with comparisons being made with the baseline and impact research phases. The interim report 1 covered the baseline phase and parts of the impact phase.
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