Local Licensing Forums

Hi everyone,
the cut off date for training for Conveners of board/Forum and L.S.O. is December the 12th. Please try and meet this deadline as we need to confirm numbers and arrange catering. The dates are as follows: Jan 23rd For Highlands and Islands, Feb 6th for East Scotland and Borders, Feb 20th for Central Scotland. Venues have been decided and are in previous communications, both on the web site and through block e-mail.

Training will be delivered by Matthew Plunkett who recently completed a research project for Alcohol focus Scotland which looked at "Licensing Law and the Impact of the Public Health Objective" (this paper can be accessed through AFS web site).
Matthew has been involved with research and licensing for a considerable period of time and has also worked in the field of drug rehabilitation with various agencies.

I will send an itinerary of the training day to all Forums and Boards within the next two weeks.
Can I encourage you to make use of the Template Working Plan which was sent out to all Forums, but please involve your Licensing board as part of the partnership agreement.

To date, I have attended 30 Forums around Scotland and I am heartened by the good work going on, especially the cooperation I have witnessed between Forums and Boards.

I am presently in the process of meeting with the web designers of the LLF site and would welcome any ideas you may have to make this site more efficient for future use.

I look forward to meeting with you once again through training and by visiting your Forum.

Kind Regards
John McFarlane
National Licensing Officer.

Hi everyone,
I just want to add a few minor details regarding training of Conveners of Forums, Chairpersons of Licensing Boards and Licensing Standards Officers. Each Licensing area with a Forum should send a total of three people as stated above. South Lanarkshire with Four forums should send a total of 12 people. If someone cannot attend, then a suitable substitute should attend from the Forum,Board,LSO.
If the convener cannot attend from the Forum, please do not send two people from the Board as this will cause an imbalance in numbers and fails to address training needs for that organisation.

Training days are now confirmed as 23 Jan for North/Islands in the Townhouse Inverness. The 6th Feb for Borders and East in Lockerbie Town Hall. The 20th Feb for Cental Belt in Glasgow Premier Inn George St Glasgow. Please ensure that you send all booking forms into AFS before the 12th December in order to establish numbers.
Some booking forms may have Marion Haggerty as the contact person,
Please disregard this and return to -
susanoneill@alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk. (0141 572 6700)

A copy of the template document to assist Forums can also be downloaded from this web site if needed.
If you require further information please be in contact.

Kind Regards.

John McFarlane
National Licensing Officer
Alcohol Focus Scotland.

If you would like draft examples of Template Work Plans for Local Licensing Forums please click on the links below:

Template 1

Template 2

Hi everyone,
The following dates are for training of conveners/Chairpersons and Licensing Standards Officers. The dates are provisional, but I need to have a rough estimate of numbers involved.
Highland and the Islands on Jan 23rd at the Townhouse Inverness.
Colleagues travelling from the Islands will be allowed overnight accommodation by AFS. Borders and East of Scotland on Feb 6th, venue has still to be arranged with those involved.
Central belt will be Feb 20th at the Travel Inn Hotel Glasgow George St. I am expecting numbers of around 40+ for each session and would be grateful if you could send numbers to me as soon as possible. The cut off date will be 14th December.
Could you please use the existing booking form used for previous training,I will send an additional one with the block e-mail.

I intend to bring in external trainers for these sessions as I feel we need a more management based approach to training and this was also evident from workshop feedback at Aviemore.
The training will be provided by AFS at a cost of £20 pre person,
but please do not send payments to AFS as we will invoice the Local Authority for numbers involved.
If you feel there are specific training requirements that need addressed, please let me know and I will include the request.

Some Forums are now at the end of their first operational year and should hold elections for the Conveners position.
The members of the Forum are appointed for the duration of that Local Council, but this should be checked as some Forums have addresses this through their constitution.
Forums have a statutory obligation to try and meet at least four times in the year, but I am aware that due to some absences some Forums have failed to take place, or were not quorate.
It is important that Forums try and complete these requirements and work with the Board to maintain continuity and flow of information.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the excellent work done during the Alcohol Awareness week, this was a great effort on behalf of Forums and all other agencies involved.

Please feel free to be in contact on any of these arrangements.

John McFarlane
National Licensing Officer
Alcohol focus Scotland.

Hi everyone,
I intend to start a rolling programme of training for Conveners with the possibility of inviting Chairpersons of Licensing Boards to the training sessions. I will analyse the feedback from Aviemore, then decide what type of training would best suit the situation.
one possibility is using team building and collaboration skills, with the training aimed specifically at the work Forums engage in.
I am aware that some Forum members missed the last round of training and there are also new recruits to Forums requiring training across the country. I intend to do a further mop up training for Forum members in the not too distant future.

Can I encourage Forum and Board members to "sit in" on each others meetings to gain an insight into each others role.

Alcohol Awareness week starts 5-11th of October and you may find that your local ADAT have organised an event. This is a good opportunity to publicise your Forum through local press, or invite the forum to link to your community during this week.

The city of Liverpool are about to set up Community forums to monitor licensing within the city. They have taken a leaf out of the Scottish system and can now see the benefits of monitoring the licensing Boards within their area.

I would like to thank Forums for responding to the consultation document "changing Scotlands relationship with alcohol".
The Justice Minister when at Aviemore encouraged everyone connected to licensing to make a response to this paper.

Many Forums are now having their joint meeting with the Licensing Boards and I am keen to attend these meetings to give support in whatever way is required. I am also aware that there are a few Forums which I have still to visit and would like to complete this as soon as possible. Please send me dates and I will respond accordingly.

I have sent a letter to all Forums thanking them for their contribution at the Annual Licensing conference and also asking them to respond to training requirements.

Please feel free to be in contact regarding any issues you have.

Kind Regards.

John McFarlane
National Licensing Officer.