Scottish Borders Council

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells, TD6 0SA

Contact: Fiona Walling 01835 826504  email  fwalling@scotborders.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Order of Business.

Minutes:

NEW MEMBER

The meeting was chaired by Ms Susan Elliot.  She welcomed new member James McKay to his first meeting of the Forum and asked other members to introduce themselves.

 

The Chairman varied the order of business as shown on the agenda. The Minute reflects the order in which the items were considered at the meeting.

 

2.

Bystander Theory Approach - Who are you

PC Nick Walker (Police Scotland)

Minutes:

By way of a presentation and video, PC Walker gave a flavour of a training programme entitled ‘Who Are You?’ which was relevant for Licensed Premises staff. The aims of the programme were to raise awareness of the issues around rape and sexual assault, to ask ‘who are the bystanders?’ and to ask bystanders to define their role in prevention.  PC Walker referred to the current situation with rapes and sexual assault being on the rise (7% rise on reported incidents from 2014/15 to 2015/16).  Within the training, the visualisation exercise portrayed a developing scenario in which a young woman became intoxicated with alcohol before being taken back to her flat and put in a dangerous situation where the eventual assumption was that she was subjected to sexual assault.  The same scenario was then played in reverse and the video stopped at points where bystanders intervened to prevent the chain of events, the bystanders in this case including a flat mate, stranger, member of bar staff and best friend.  Members of the Forum agreed that this was a powerful training programme and noted that this had been rolled out to groups in the Scottish Borders by Police Licensing and Rape Crisis. Suggestions of where else the training could be offered included to bar staff prior to the Borders festivals, to taxi drivers, Area Partnerships and if there is no age limit on the video to students at Borders College and University.  It was also suggested that a Certificate of Attendance could be given where appropriate so that this could be added to CPD lists.

 

DECISION

NOTED

 

3.

Best Bar None (BBN)

Update by PC Nick Walker (Police Scotland)

Minutes:

In his introduction to the update on Best Bar None, PC Walker gave a reminder of the background to the initiative the aims of which were to: promote a Safer Community; promote social responsibility; raise standards in licensed or trade venues; and to reward well managed venues. The focus of the scheme was around the 5 key elements of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, with 90 criteria to check-off in scoring booklets for the licensed premises involved.  There were also documents to support good practice and framework through the assessment process.  Venues, categorised by type, applied to the local scheme for assessment.  Accreditations of Bronze, Silver or Gold were awarded by trained assessors with additional awards also being available at both local and national level.  The presentation listed the benefits to the Community and the Premises taking part.  This was the 12th year of the programme in Scotland. In the Scottish Borders in 2017 there were 23 premises accredited (11 Gold, 5 Silver and 7 Bronze), compared with a total of 18 in 2016.  A local awards event would be held in March 2018 and three premises had been invited to submit for a National Award.  PC Walker concluded his presentation with reference to the funding requirement for the scheme which worked out at approximately £150 per premises.  Funding sources were being explored for this worthwhile scheme as there was a predicted funding shortfall of £1500 in the next financial year.

 

DECISION

NOTED

 

4.

Agent Purchase Campaign

PC Nick Walker (Police Scotland)

Minutes:

The underage drinking ‘don’t buy it, don’t supply it’ campaign was launched in Galashiels by partners, including the TD1 Youth Hub, on 8 December 2017.  PC Walker provided an update on the campaign by way of a presentation.  The objectives of the campaign were to; reduce instances of proxy purchase in particular by parents; reduce crime and anti-social behaviour; reduce hospital admissions relating to young people and alcohol; and to raise awareness of legislation relating to the supply of alcohol to young people.  Posters and briefing material, with logo designed by a young person from Galashiels, had been sent to all Scottish Borders Licensed Premises. Pull-up banners had been included in supermarkets with high footfall, and plasma screens in Council Contact Centres and Borders General Hospital.  Future promotion of the campaign would be at Rugby Sevens, Cultural events and festivals; at the end of the summer school term and at Halloween.  A review of the festive campaign and planning of the Rugby Sevens campaign would take place on 6 February 2018.  Members of the Forum welcomed the high impact of the campaign, which had been noticed in particular on social media.  As attention had been drawn to the launch of the campaign at the joint meeting with the Licensing Board last December it was suggested that the presentation be taken to a future Board meeting to give Members an update.

 

DECISION

AGREED that PC Walker liaise with the Clerk to the Licensing Board to agree the meeting of the Board to which an update on the Agent Purchase Campaign would be taken.

 

5.

Minute pdf icon PDF 76 KB

Minute of meeting of the Local Licensing Forum of 3 October 2017 to be approved (copy attached).

Minutes:

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the meeting held on 3 October 2017.

 

      DECISION

      APPROVED the Minute for signature by the Chairman.

 

6.

Matters arising from the Minute

Minutes:

With reference to paragraph 9.3 of the Minute, Ms Elliot advised that she and Ms Bell had met to discuss ideas for a recruitment campaign for new Forum members and passed the information to the Licensing Team to take forward.

 

DECISION

AGREED that the Licensing Team take forward a campaign to recruit new members to the Licensing Forum. 

 

7.

Review of Scottish Borders Licensing Board Policy Statement

Update by Licensing Standards Officer

Minutes:

With reference to paragraph 3 of the Minute, Mr Tunnah gave an update on the work being carried out by the Forum’s working group in respect of the review of the Scottish Borders Licensing Board Policy Statement.  A copy of the existing policy and a copy with suggested changes, had been circulated for comment to members of the Forum prior to the meeting.  Mr Tunnah explained that the amendments mainly related to the removal of material considered unnecessary.  The suggested changes would be fed back to the Licensing Board working group.  The revised policy statement would be subject to a six month consultation period and the Forum would also take the opportunity to respond at that stage.  As part of the consultation the document would also be sent to all licensed             premises. Ms Elliot suggested that a template of questions be provided to accompany the consultation to help consultees focus their consideration and to frame a response. It was also suggested that a training session to accompany publication of the new Policy Statement be held as part of the joint Licensing Board/Forum meeting.

 

DECISION

 

(a)        NOTED the update.

 

(b)       AGREED that a training session to accompany publication of the new           Policy Statement be suggested by LSO to the Licensing Board for the           agenda of the 2018 joint Licensing Board/Forum meeting.

 

8.

Joint Licensing Board/Forum Meeting - feedback

Minutes:

Those present agreed that the annual joint meeting with the Licensing Board held in December 2017 had been useful with a high level and quality of content and input.  The general opinion was that the joint training session, which formed part of the meeting, was a worthwhile initiative which should be repeated at future joint meetings.

 

DECISION

NOTED

 

9.

Scottish Borders Licensing Board Minutes pdf icon PDF 97 KB

Copies of the following Minutes attached:-

22 September 2017; 20 October 2017; 17 November 2017; 15 December 2017.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There had been circulated, for information, copies of the Scottish Borders Licensing Board Minutes of 22 September 2017; 20 October 2017; 17 November 2017;

15 December 2017.

 

      DECISION

      NOTED the Minutes

 

10.

Private Business

Before proceeding with the private business, the following motion should be approved:-

“That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 7A to the aforementioned Act”.

Minutes:

AGREED under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the business detailed in the Appendix to this Minute on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 7A to the Act.

 

 

SUMMARY OF PRIVATE BUSINESS

 

11.

Police Report

Minutes:

PC Ray gave a report for the period 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2017.

 

12.

Alcohol Profile

Consider working draft (copy attached)

Minutes:

The Senior Development Officer, Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, presented for consideration a draft of the Alcohol Profile 2017.

 

 

CONTACT US

Scottish Borders Council

Council Headquarters Newtown St. Boswells Melrose TD6 0SA

Tel: 0300 100 1800

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