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The Licensing (Scotland) Bill: A Consultation on Liquor Licensing

Introduction by Cathy Jamieson, MSP
Minister for Justice

In June 2001, the Nicholson Committee was established by the Scottish Executive to undertake an independent review of Scotland's liquor licensing law. The Committee reported in August 2003. In addition, views on off-licences were expressed during the consultation on the Executive's Strategy for Tackling Antisocial Behaviour 'Putting our Communities First'. A group chaired by Peter Daniels, Chief Executive of Renfrewshire Council, reported on 'Off-sales in the Community' in February 2004.

In addition to the extensive consultation carried out by the Nicholson Committee, the Executive has received over 160 responses to consultation on the Committee's report. I am very pleased with the level of response and the thoughtfulness of the comments. I am now in a position to respond to this detailed and extensive work.

This paper sets out our views on the key recommendations.

The Executive takes the problem of the harm caused by alcohol abuse very seriously. A recent survey has shown, for example, that 23% of 13 year olds and 46% of 15 year olds reported drinking in the week before the survey.

We are taking action in a number of ways to address these problems, including educating our young people and working to change our drinking culture. In January 2002, we published the Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems, to provide a framework for national and local action in the areas of culture change, prevention and education, the provision of services and protection and control.

A national communications strategy to target binge drinkers, additional funding for local alcohol action teams to build capacity for local delivery of the Plan, publication of an alcohol problems support and treatment services framework and development of 3-year local alcohol action plans are now in place. In March 2004, we announced specific additional resources of £8 million in the next 2 financial years to support the implementation of these plans.

There is no quick fix. However, liquor licensing legislation is one of the routes we have available to us that can support the other measures we are taking though the Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems.

Scotland needs modern laws for a modern society, laws that reflect our needs as individuals, communities, business people and consumers. Those needs have undoubtedly changed considerably over the last 30 years. I believe that the proposals set out here will meet those needs and in addition will:

• support our wider agenda of cracking down on binge drinking and under age drinking and the consequent antisocial behaviour and crime it can cause;
• support responsible retailers and licensees; and
• offer flexibility and discretion for local Boards to solve local problems balanced with an overarching national framework.

We took the view that the proposals made by the Nicholson Committee should be considered together as the fundamental basis of the new system. We are therefore in agreement with many of the key proposals including the licensing principles, the single premises licence, the new personal licence and the continuation of the system of Licensing Boards.

However, we have also listened to concerns raised through the consultation process and in discussion with the licensed trade. Our proposals reflect this.

We believe that the clear benefits of local flexibility must be balanced by a prominent national framework which sets boundaries around some of that local discretion in the interests of national consistency and on those issues where we feel that a national approach would be beneficial.

We also believe that for some issues it will be appropriate to develop a set of minimum standard national licence conditions. We advocate this approach not only for issues such as the access of children to licensed premises, but also as a means of applying conditions to the provision of adult entertainment, to recognise the additional public safety requirements which should be adhered to by late opening premises, and to recognise the specific differences relating to off-licences.

Licensed premises have a place in our society. Pubs and clubs provide entertainment and a focus for an enjoyable social life. Off-licences, particularly corner shops, provide an important role and service for local communities. In addition, licensed premises very often provide a service to visitors to Scotland.

It is in all of our interests to ensure that standards are high. For that reason, it is our intention that training for all servers of alcohol in licensed premises should be mandatory.

We must also ensure that the balance is right between the provision of services by licensed premises and a proliferation of such premises leading to a detrimental impact on quality of life and, in some cases, unacceptable, antisocial and sometimes criminal behaviour.

This balance will vary according to location and depending on the needs of local residents. We have already set out our views on overprovision in relation to off-licences in response to the Daniels Report. We propose to extend this approach to all licensed premises. This means that Boards will be required to make a pro-active assessment of overprovision in consultation with local communities.

This is not a veto. Rather, it is a common-sense way to tackle an issue which many communities throughout Scotland have highlighted as a major concern.

We believe firmly that communities should have the scope to make their views known in an effective way and that this should be open to a wider range of people than at present. For that reason we have accepted the recommendations of the Daniels Committee on the widening of the entitlement to object and make representations to include anybody who can show a 'real and material interest'.

We support the Nicholson approach to licensing hours. The paper sets out our approach in full but we believe that there should be a presumption against 24 hour opening in Scotland for on and off-sales.

We have already proposed an alternative approach to safeguard children by requiring premises to opt-in to the access of children to licensed premises. In addition, to combat the serious problem of under age drinking, we intend to require all licensees to operate on a 'no-proof no-sale' basis.

Getting it right now in legislation with a simpler, more modern licensing system with rigorous controls in place where we need them will be of benefit to all of us - to communities, to consumers, and to the licensed trade.

We recognise the need to involve local communities and seek community views in the decision making process. In addition, in order to help us to create an effective framework for that process, we need to continue to involve those with specialist expertise - the police, licensed trade, health experts and Licensing Boards. We will therefore establish an Expert Reference Group to help us work on some of the detail for legislation. Annex A sets out the range of issues the group will be asked to tackle.

I would like to thank the members of the Nicholson and Daniels Committees for their commitment and hard work. I would also like to thank all those who have taken part in the review and offered us their views.

I look forward to reading your responses to the Executive's proposals and to working with you as we develop new legislation for Scotland.

Cathy Jamieson MSP,
Minister for Justice

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