Final vote on proposed changes to Scottish licensing laws due by end of the month

A final debate and vote on the new Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill is due to take place on 25 June, according to the Scottish Parliament. Members of the Scottish Parliament will vote on an updated version of the bill containing amendments made by the Local Government and Regeneration Committee last month and may be able to introduce new amendments with the approval of the presiding officer.

The vote has been scheduled just as a public consultation period on further changes to the licensing regime, proposed by Labour MSP Richard Simpson, closes. The Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) Bill, a private members' bill introduced by Simpson, would allow Scottish police and local authorities to request  'Drinking Banning Orders' (DBOs) preventing certain individuals from entering pubs or clubs for up to two years and would require courts to notify the GP of an individual convicted of an offence involving alcohol.

The 'fit and proper' test for licensees allows police to present more information to licensing boards about applicants than is presently the case. Currently, information must be restricted to that relating to serious and organised crime. The proposed new 'fit and proper' test is narrower to that in place before 2009 as it restricts any assessment of the licence holder or applicant's fitness to "with regard to the five licensing objectives".

The Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill would extend the fifth licensing objective to cover the protection of 'young people' aged 16 and 17, as well as of children, from harm. The other licensing objectives would remain unchanged. These are prevention of crime and disorder, securing public safety, preventing public nuisance and protecting and improving public health. The bill would also introduce new licensing requirements for owners of air weapons, private hire car operators and scrap metal dealers.

"The 'fit and proper' test was abolished in 2009, but the police have been campaigning ever since to have it reinstated," licensing law expert Audrey Ferrie of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said previously.

If passed in its current form, the bill would also create new offences of giving, or making available, alcohol to a child or young person for consumption in a public place. This is intended to close an existing legal loophole which permits adults to buy alcohol for those under 18 if the alcohol is consumed outside of licensed premises. It would also introduce a new processing deadline and 'deemed grant' provision to the licensing application process nine months after the date of acknowledgement of a completed application.

Changes to the premises licence transfer procedure introduced by the Local Government and Regeneration Committee at stage two of the legislative process would remove the requirement restricting such applications to 'prescribed persons'. Instead, any person over the age of 18 would be able to apply for a transfer with the consent of the existing premises licence holder or if the local licensing board has agreed to dispense with that consent.

Licensing law expert Audrey Ferrie said that the existing provisions created problems where, for example, the tenant abandoned the premises and the new applicant was not a 'prescribed person for the purposes of the existing legislation. This often arose in insolvency cases, she said. The proposed new rules go some way to addressing these issues but are not a complete solution.

Public consultation on the private members' bill proposed by Richard Simpson ends on 24 June, although this legislation remains at an early stage. Simpson's Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill contains ten proposals covering changes to licensing laws, restrictions on the retail sale and advertising of alcoholic drinks near schools and at some sporting or cultural events and new obligations for the Scottish government to publish, review and report on its alcohol education policy. It also contains provisions aimed at treating or restricting over-consumption by "certain people whose offending or antisocial behaviour is attributable to alcohol consumption", according to an explanatory note published alongside the bill.

Simpson's bill will first be considered by the Health and Sport Committee, which may call witnesses from those that have submitted written evidence on the proposals. This is not likely to happen until after the summer recess. Respondents have been asked whether they support some or all of the provisions of the bill, whether they have any concerns about its provisions and whether the proposals would have "financial or resource implications" for them.