The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 has five

central objectives:

• Preventing crime and disorder

• Securing public safety

• Preventing public nuisance

• Protecting and improving public health

• Protecting children and young people from harm.

Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. Edinburgh: Scottish Government; 2005. Available from:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2005/16/contents

What is alcohol overprovision?

Overprovision is where there are problems linked to the number and type of premises in an area.

Scottish licensing law requires licensing boards to assess the extent to which they consider there

is overprovision of licensed premises, or licensed premises of a particular type, in their area.

A statement on overprovision must be included in the statement of licensing policy.

A LOCAL JUDGEMENT

What has happened in the last five years

• Changes to drink driving law 2014

• 14 units per week low risk drinking limit for men and women 2016

• Advice about not to drink if pregnant 2016

• Minimum Unit Pricing 2018

• More work place policies in place

• Alcohol Brief interventions continue

• Increased intelligence about accessibility, affordability and availability

• Off sales continues to increase

2013 Highland Alcohol Overprovision

Statement

• Highland one area

• off sales only

• Greater than 40 square meter capacity

NOTE NOT RETROSPECTIVE

Impact? Alcohol license applications

withdrawn Date Business Location Decision

May 2015 Lidl Alness, Dingwall,

Inverness, Ft

William, Tain

Applications

withdrawn –

agreed not to

increase capacity

over 40 square

meters

October 2017 Home Bargains Ft William As above

October 2017 Lidl Ft William As above

November 2017 Lidl Tain As above

December 2018 Co-op Skye ?

How to persuade a licensing board????

• ????

• In my mind there is absolutely no doubt there is enough alcohol in

Highland and it is easy to access

Tactics

• Cover all bases.... Provide them with both qualitative and

quantitative data and with personal stories (film)

• Public survey

• Give them a number of options with a view to protecting status quo

Film Personal stories – key messages

• Alcohol is readily available

• Described a range of harms and also impact on services

• Impact on children and their families and friends

• Not able to make a rational decision when drinking

• Role of decision makers

ASK ME IF YOU TO VIEW IT I HAVE IT ON MY LAP TOP

Men admitted to hospital due to alcohol, 2015

Alcohol-related mortality rates

(underlying cause) in Highland and

Scotland, 1982 to 2016

Proportion of adults exceeding low risk weekly

drinking guidelines by gender, Highland and

Scotland, 2013 - 2016 combined

Alcohol-related mortality and hospital

admission rates for Highland

Community Partnership areas

Percentage of Highland Community

Partnership populations within drive and

walk time extents of licensed premises

Number of premise licenses in force per

10,000 population aged 18 years and

over, Highland and Scotland, 2017.

Public Survey

OPTIONS

Option 1 and 2

• To limit the supply, no

more off-sales licenses

are agreed, where the

sales capacity is 40

square meters and over.

• To limit the supply, no

more off-sales licenses

are agreed, where the

sales capacity is 30

square meters and over.

The Highland

Licensing Board

should consider in

relation to off-sales

the overall supply of

alcohol in Highland

as well as individual

premises and agree

that the current

supply is sufficient.

Option 3 and 4

• Option 3: To limit the supply, no more off-sales licenses are agreed, where the sales capacity is 40 square meters and over, AND no more on- sales are agreed in the areas of Caithness and Inverness which have higher than average alcohol-related admission rates.

• Option 4: To limit the supply, no more off-sales licenses are agreed, where the sales capacity is 30 square meters and over, AND no more on- sales are agreed in the areas of Caithness and Inverness which have higher than average alcohol-related admission rates.

NHS PREFERRED OPTION

The Highland

Licensing Board

should consider in

relation to off-sales

the overall supply of

alcohol in Highland

as well as individual

premises and agree

that the current

supply is sufficient.

WHAT OPTION DID THE LICENSING BOARD

GO FOR?

Challenges

• All played out in the Council Chamber – hostile environment

• Newly elected ALB who didn’t like the previous OPS or Public Health

• Requests to directly link location with harms/deaths

• Fixation on young people drinking in the pubs/clubs and on the streets;

pubs seen to be the problem

• Appear resistant to debate what they can do with licensing as a contribution

to a serious PH problem

IS THIS REALLY AN EFFECTIVE PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY?

THANK YOU

ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS?

elisabeth.smart@nhs.net