Agenda and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on the agenda. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2008

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 5 December 2008 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so. Anyone who wishes to register or requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer on the contact details listed at the foot of this agenda. The deadline for registering is Thursday 4 June at 5pm.

It was reported that there was no registered speakers for this meeting.

The purpose of this report is for members of the Gambling & Licensing Act Committee to examine the contents of the recently published Government consultation document – Selling Alcohol Responsibly. It also seeks Members views to enable Officers to complete the attached questionnaire.

Members considered a report which asked them to examine the contents of the recently published government consultation document – Selling Alcohol Responsibly. The report asked Members views on the suggested codes and conditions.

Officers advised that the document is intended to raise standards across the industry. The document is concerned in particular with the responsible retailing of alcohol, in light of this Officers advised that an area that has not been impacted on in York,  is the widespread availability of drinks promotions and asked Members for their feedback.

The following suggestions were made by Members:

Pages 41 and 42 (53 and 54 of the Agenda) of the document include reference to staff training, seating and door staff. Certain members felt these areas were important areas for control and queried whether it could be recommended that central government add conditions to the discretionary local conditions list as follows:

Ø      Staff training – concern was expressed that usually only the licence holder of a Premises receives training. Members felt staff training should extend to all employees.

Ø      Seating – vertical drinking establishments are numerous in York and it would be useful to have a condition which can be applied to help in the  control of such premises if required.

Ø      Door Staff – In particular a condition which assists door staff to deal with the problem of fake Identification used by underage individuals.

Members also suggested the following:

Ø      Use the document as an opportunity to highlight to Government the need for hospitals to produce statistics on alcohol related admissions. Certain members queried whether the Ambulance Service could be more involved with the collation of statistics.

Ø      Advise the Government that there is concern regarding the increase in people buying alcohol in large quantities and at low prices from the supermarkets to consume at home and the effects this is having on  communities in York  and the responsible authorities.

Ø      Members felt that a local consultation should be undertaken in order for members of the public and smaller licensed premises to have the chance to comment on the document. Wider publicity would be required in order to do this and Members queried whether Officers could use the Council Website to advertise the consultation. Officers advised this could be done.

Certain Members expressed dissatisfaction at the Governments decision not to impose a minimum unit price as they felt that this would be useful in tackling the problem of people purchasing large quantities of alcohol from supermarkets.

Overall, Members were encouraged by the document and were glad to see that the discretionary conditions being introduced, reflect conditions that Members often have cause to apply via Licensing Hearings.

RESOLVED:             That Members note the contents of the report and the published mandatory and discretionary codes as outlined in the government published document – Selling Alcohol Responsibly and ask Officers to respond incorporating points agreed by Members.¹

REASON:                  To advise Officers in the response to the new codes of practice.