The Licensing Authority will for the first time become a Responsible Authority and will therefore will be able to make representations on licence applications and call for licence reviews.

Primary Care Trusts will also be classed as one of the Responsible Authorities and so will be able to make representations to licence applications and call for licence reviews.

Residents representations will no longer be limited to residents living in the vicinity of a particular premises. In future any resident or business within a relevant council area will be able to make relevant representations on applications made to a local Council’s Licensing Authority or call for reviews of any premises licensed within a Council area.

Notice of every application for the grant or variation of a premises licence will be posted on the Council’s website.

When determining contested applications or licence reviews the Licensing Authority will ask itself what is “appropriate” rather than what is “necessary” as is currently the case.

The Licensing Authority MUST suspend licences due to non-payment of annual fees (unless there has been an administrative error).

The maximum fine for persistently selling alcohol to under-18s has doubled to £20,000 and the maximum length of the period of voluntary closure (as an alternative to a fine) has increased from 48 hours to 336 hours (14 days).

The Council’s Environmental Health Depart will be able to object to Temporary Event Notices (TENs) as well as the Police and the grounds of objection are widened to include all four licensing objectives. If there is an objection the Licensing Authority can attach conditions to the Temporary Event Notice.

The maximum duration of an individual TEN has been extended to one week

The maximum number of days in a calendar year during which a premises may operate under a TEN will be increased from 15 to 21 days.

It will be possible to give a limited number of “Late” TENs five clear working days in advance of an event.

The Small World Cultural Arts Collective applied to Bradford Council for the licence to help generate income for the charity’s main work, but also to display the talents of musicians in the area.

Members of the Keighley Area Licensing Panel granted the licence for the venue in Russell Street, subject to a number of conditions. It will allow the venue to stage concerts and events and serve alcohol until 4.30am at weekends.

Small World creative director Sam Atkins said the charity worked with young people throughout the week, and hoped to stage events to help fund this work.

She said: “The idea behind the venue has always been a venue to generate some income to support the work we do during the rest of the week, but it’s also a showcase for young people.”

PC Shaun Marshall told the panel that the application would mean an event could run from 8.30am on a Friday to 9pm on a Sunday.

He said: “This potentially could be a continuous event of 60 and a half hours, which would incorporate some 34 and a half hours of alcohol supply.”

The charity told members it would agree to a condition not to stage an event which lasted for 60 hours over the weekend, and said the late licensing would not be used regularly.

Councillors granted a licence to allow the venue to serve alcohol between 7pm and 4.30pm on Fridays, noon to 4.30am on Saturdays and noon to 8.30pm on Sundays. It will also be able to stage plays from 8.30am to 9pm Sunday to Thursday and from 8.30am to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Meanwhile, the showing of film, live and recorded music and dance performances will be allowed from 8.30am to 9pm Monday to Thursday, from 10.30am to 4.30pm Friday and Saturday and from 10.30am to 9pm on Sunday.

A number of conditions were imposed by the licensing panel, including CCTV being installed and maintained, noise not to be audible at the nearest noise-sensitive premises, windows and doors to be kept shut during performances, all bar staff to be trained in responsible alcohol retailing, an incident book is kept and that the venue becomes a member of the Keighley Pub Watch scheme.

Source; Keighley News

Food hygiene behind the bar:

We are all aware of the old clichés of dodgy bar snacks and salmonella in the ice bucket. Yet it usually during their most common day-to-day tasks that bar staff breach food hygiene legislation. From a glass of coke with ice and a slice, to a Mojito cocktail with mint and lime, the drinks served behind every kind of bar will inevitably be complemented with some form of foodstuff.

Don’t despair at British and EU food hygiene legalisation. These are only basic food handling tasks and the appropriate food hygiene courses reflect this- training for bar staff should be economic, affordable and conducted in a format that is convenient for you.

Food hygiene law:

Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs states that the food business operator must make sure that all the food handlers working in the business are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activities. A ‘food handler’ is defined as any person who handles or prepares food, whether it is open or packaged, including drinks and ice.

Staff working with food outside of the kitchen will almost certainly be Category A food handlers: staff who handle low-risk or wrapped foods. Category A covers store-men, waiters and waitresses, bar staff, counter staff, serving assistants, cellar-men and food delivery staff.

Before starting work for the first time, a Category A food handler must receive written or verbal instruction in the ‘essentials of food hygiene’, and should receive ‘hygiene awareness instruction’ within four weeks.

Note: Managers and other staff may also need training so that they have enough knowledge of food hygiene to instruct or supervise others.

Who may conduct inspections? 

• The Environmental Health Departments of local authorities: Environmental Health Departments are the main regulatory body, and may conduct inspections. They have the power to take enforcement action based on these inspections.
• Meat Standards Agency
• Food Standards Agency

Food hygiene training courses:

With all this in mind, providing food hygiene training for staff is extremely important, but more often than not only needs to cover the fundamental knowledge required for Category A food handlers. Follow this link for more information about the half day Fundamentals of Food Hygiene (FFH) training course.

The implementation of the ARZ was prompted by a petition, signed by over eight hundred people and submitted by Tunstall Chamber of Trade.

There are currently nine Alcohol Restriction Zones across the city.

Alcohol Restriction Zones and police powers:  

• Police officers may request that a person to stop drinking in a public place for a wide range of reasons linked to public disturbance
• Police officers can demand the surrender of any containers suspected to contain alcohol
• These measures apply to all public places within the ARZ, but not to homes or pubs (including gardens)
• Failure to comply with these measures can result in a fine of up to £500

• In China, the price of wine has risen by 70% from January 2009 to early 2012. Now that’s a lot!
• More than 75% of New Zealanders choose to have nights with no alcohol. Trust me, it would be a lot lower in England.
• In New Zealand a survey revealed that craft beers are gaining popularity.
• In Georgia, USA, authorities are hoping to attract more tourists by building a fountain that pumps out strong alcohol, in place of water, once a week. Glasses at the ready.
• For ten or fifteen minutes a week in Georgia, Chacha will flow from the fountain!
• In Brazil, alcohol is prohibited inside football stadiums, but FIFA wants legalisation for it to be changed for the 2014 tournament. Do you think it should change?

Boulton and Watt were chosen to adorn the note in tribute of their contribution to industrial advancement in the West Midlands in the late eighteenth century, as Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King explained: “Boulton and Watt’s steam engines and their many other innovations were essential factors in the nation’s industrial revolution.” The pair’s association to currency reform is well established within the history books. Their pioneering steam engine powered Boulton’s Mint in Birmingham, which manufactured coins designed to thwart an alarming rise in counterfeit. The use of their image on the new fifty pound note symbolises the commitment of the Bank of England to restoring public trust in the denomination.

Adapted features:

The Boulton and Watt note retains raised print, metallic thread, special paper, watermark and sharp print quality. These security features have been subtly adapted to make the render the note more difficult to counterfeit.

Different features:

Gone is the foil patch displaying a reflective rose and medallion, seen to the right of the portrait of the Queen. Instead, the Boulton and Watt features microlettering, motion thread and a see-through register. Certain features of the note appear in bright red and green when viewed under an ultra-violet light, a common security check. A random spread of green and red flecks will also be visible on both sides of the note.

For a detailed summary of these security features, visit the Bank of England website.

Advice and information on spotting fake ID can be accessed in Fake Driving Licence Warning.

Alcohol misuse in Scotland is widely considered to be a national problem- the Scottish government has estimated the public sector response to the consequences of alcohol misuse costs £3.56bn each year. In the Scottish National Party conference last weekend, deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon echoed the prevailing sentiment that alcohol misuse is Scotland’s biggest domestic problem, a problem that ‘blights lives, breaks families, wrecks communities’. Indeed, a significant proportion of her conference speech was devoted to urging all in Scotland – the people, the political parties and particularly the drinks industry – to unite behind the SNP’s proposed minimum pricing reform:

“So my message today is this: let us all respect the will of parliament, let us turn this policy into practice and let us get on with the job of sorting out this nation’s relationship with alcohol.”

The Alcohol Bill

The ‘Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Bill’, reintroduced by MSPs, aims to target the minimum retail price of every alcoholic drink. The price setting formula embodied within the bill stipulates that minimum price will be calculated per unit of alcohol, resulting in minimum retail prices across the marketing spectrum:

The minimum price of alcohol is to be calculated according to the following formula—

MPU x S x V x 100

where—

MPU is the minimum price per unit,

S is the strength of the alcohol, and

V is the volume of the alcohol in litres.

[Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Bill]

In England and Wales, a similar ban on the sale of alcohol below a minimum price will be introduced from 6 April 2012. It has been predicted by the Home Office that a resulting shift in consumer patterns will prevent around 7,000 alcohol-related crimes a year. Under the conditions of the Act, shops and bars will not be able to sell drinks for less than the tax paid on them, capping minimum retail prices at 21p per unit of beer and 28p per unit of spirits. On the high street, this will translate as 38p for can of weak lager and £10.71 for a litre of vodka.

Political opposition to the Scottish bill

As the only party within Scottish parliament not to the SNP’s bill, Labour have launched a detailed alternative plan. Labour’s plan promises a “comprehensive package” of reforms, aimed less towards a single price review and more towards a period of consultation and fourteen alternative measures, including a limit on caffeine in alcoholic drinks. Labour MSP Dr Richard Simpson, a former GP and a Labour public health spokesman, said: “This is a complex problem that requires complex solutions. Included within Labour’s plan would be a consultation called ‘Shifting the Culture’, addressing issues spanning public health and criminal justice policy.

Other threads of political opposition have gradually wound down. Having previously suggested that a blanket minimum pricing policy would not work, Tory leader Ruth Davidson has confirmed that the Scottish Conservative Party will drop its opposition to minimum unit pricing for alcohol and the SNP’s bill. Despite this growing support, Sturgeon has reacted furiously to Labour’s show of political opposition: “They should be completely and utterly ashamed of themselves…Labour is a lost cause on this issue, so I don’t intend to waste any more breath on them.”

SNP appeal to the drinks industry

Sturgeon also used her speech to appeal to the drinks industry to back minimum pricing measures, describing industry members as “voices in the debate that mattered”. Having described Labour as a “lost cause” – politically isolated in their opposition to the bill – she somewhat paradoxically urged those in the alcohol industry not to try to delay the new legislation by “tying it up in the courts”. Legal opposition to pricing reforms in Scotland and in England and Wales has the potential to slow down reform, as drinks companies span the legislative divide and have been recognised as an important voice in the debate.

The current state of reform

For the time being, it would seem that public image of reforming the Scottish relationship with alcohol has been railroaded; swallowed up within a broader political conflict that encompasses multiple issues: “Now, on minimum pricing and on so many issues, Labour is just an obstacle to progress”. The SNP, the majority party of the Scottish Parliament, has essentially put all of its eggs in one basket, proposing a single, firm measure to tackle the problem. Labour, meanwhile, has proposed a broader package, likely to win support from medical professionals and health campaigners. Given that minimum pricing legislation has been introduced in Westminster, it would seem that forms of minimum pricing will be coming into force throughout the UK this time next year.

During a visit to Newcastle, Mr Cameron said the level of drunkenness in the UK was a “scandal” and that supermarkets, bars and the drinks industry should do more to help the situation.

A Newcastle University study, published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, concluded the ban would not have a substantial effect on the overall price sold in shops, because hardly any alcohol is currently sold at such low prices. Newcastle University Researchers visited 29 city stores and found 2,000 alcohol promotions on offer . They found that only 2% were at below-cost price.

The Government is due to publish a new alcohol strategy later this year.

Source: PersonalLicence.com

The move follows huge discounts for alcohol at supermarkets and convenience stores, which is being blamed for binge drinking, which in turn has a huge impact on accident and emergency wards of hospitals.

He said “We need to take action right across the board. We also need to look at the issue of pricing. This is a national problem.”

The prime minister is examining Scottish moves to outlaw the sale of alcohol at less than 45p a unit, as well as a plan to link taxes on drinks to their strength.

Ian Gilmore, the Royal College of Physicians’ special adviser on alcohol and the chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said Cameron “rightly identifies cheap drink as a major factor and I encourage him to join Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland in meeting this head on with a minimum unit price for alcohol”.

Other more radical idea’s to solve this problem includes a “drinking licence” which would be taken away if the user is convicted of alcohol related crimes.

Applications must be received by Monday, 6 February.

The Best Bar None awards focus on safety and customer care with the ultimate aim of finding the best pub, club or bar in Carlisle and Penrith.The initiative aims to reward licensees, who provide good management, a safe and enjoyable environment for customers, discourage binge-drinking and prevent alcohol-related crime.

As always Alcohol Licence.org promote all responsible alcohol retailing initiatives and additional staff training schemes are an essential part of ensuring products such as alcohol are sold responsibly. If you are looking to take a licensing qualification such as the Level 2 Award for Personal Licence Holders you can now book online for course held in Carlisle using the link below.

Personal Licence courses in Carlisle
]]> http://www.alcohollicence.org/alcohol-licence-training-in-carlisle-eden/feed/ 0