Alcohol Policy UK

What's the future for the Late Night Levy & EMRO?

Since October 2012, Local Authorities have had the power to introduce a Late Night Levy (LNL) on premises opening after midnight under the PRSA 2011. The Levy is intended as a means of raising a contribution towards police and council accrued costs of the late-night economy.

However likely use of the Levy looks uncertain. Similarly no areas appear to have yet committed to use of Early Morning Restriction Orders (EMROs) to restrict the sale of alcohol between midnight and 6am.

According to a report in the Morning Advertiser, just 1% of councils say they plan to introduce either a LNL or EMRO, with over three quarters reportedly ruling them outaccording to a survey of 363 councils. A number of Local Authorities are however consulting on the use of the powers, such as Newcastle City Council and Milton Keynes. Blackpool and Hartlepool are understood to be considering EMROs.

A number of reasons for reluctance over the use of the powers seem apparent, ranging from insufficient expected revenue from the LNL, to legal concerns over being the first to implement new legislation. The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) have reportedly set up a 'fighting fund' to cover the cost of legal challenges against EMROs or the levy. In a BBC radio discussion, Brigid Simmonds of the BBPA argued that pubs would suffer if the on trade are further targeted, pointing out 70% of alcohol is now sold off-trade.

Cllr Brad Smith, Chairman of Bexley Council's Licensing Committee said "There are not a significant number of licensed premises which would be affected [in Bexley]... as little as only £1,000 per year would be raised". He emphasised the council had a strong process of using robust licence reviews on individual premises causing problems. In Great Yarmouth an EMRO was reportedly avoided when premises agreed to earlier voluntary closure of 4am from 6am.

History repeats?

In 2008 powers came in under the 2006 Violent Crime Reduction Act allowing Local Authorities to implement 'Alcohol Disorder Zones' (ADZs). ADZs were introduced to allow local authorities to impose charges on licensed premises to pay for the costs of addressing alcohol-related problems, but warnings proved true and none were ever implemented, though other powers within the 2006 act were more widely utilized. Will the LNL and EMRO be the new ADZ , or with the integration of public health within Local Authorities, is a "re-balancing" of the licensing act underway?

See www.gov.uk/alcohol-licensing or www.alcoholpolicy.net/licensing/ for licensing guidance and information.

Steve.morton@blackpool.gov.uk

Licensing information pack: toolkit supports data collection and decision making

The shadow London Health Improvement Board (LHIB) has co-ordinated the development of a Licensing Information Pack to support local licensing activity.

Download Licensing Information Pack: resources to inform local action on alcohol misuse (pdf)

Section One covers 'Information, Guidance & Tools', which outlines a range of local and national data sources; the organisations that collect them; and how to access the data.

Section Two presents four London case studies giving real-life examples of how the evidence base has been used to inform local area decision-making and licensing policy.

The development of the Information Pack followed feedback from delegates at the recent London Licensing Network Events. Delegates, who included licensing officers, trading standards officers, and the police, highlighted that issues around inter-agency information-sharing impeded the development of strategies to combat the negative impact of alcohol.

The Local Government Association (LGA) recently published guidance on Public health and alcohol licensing in England and other resources. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recently released an alcohol public health briefing for local authorities. See here for an e-learning course on A&E data sharing and data sharing guidance.

All Home Office licensing guidance can be accessed here, including revised guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 and amended guidance on the late night levy [pdf].

'Public health and alcohol licensing in England' LGA briefing

The Local Government Association (LGA) have published guidance on Public health and alcohol licensing in England.

Under new licensing measures councils have greater powers in relation to licensing decisions, and health bodies are now a 'responsible authority'. The briefing aims to place health bodies' new role in alcohol licensing in a strategic context, and to provide guidance to those who will be delivering the responsible authority role.

The guidance outlines how health authorities can consider playing an active part in licensing decisions, despite not being able to influence licensing based on health grounds. However health-related data, such as A&E or ambulance collected data may be useful under the existing licensing objectives such as the prevention of crime and disorder. It also outlines the potential for health based decisions in 'cumulative impact' areas as proposed in the current alcohol strategy consultation.

See here for an e-learning course on A&E data sharing and data sharing guidance. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recently released an alcohol public health briefing for local authorities.

The LGA have also published recent guidance including:

• Police Crime Commissioner (PCC) NTE Briefing
• LGA Licensing Policy Statement Template
• Blackpool council and Police partnership case study for PCCs

The LGA are also hosting a series of events including: Councils role in tackling drugs and alcohol harm (17th January), Late-night levy workshop (22 January - LGA members only planning on introducing a levy) and a Licensing Conference (5 February).

Late night levy: amended guidance as local authorities and trade weigh up levy and EMRO options

The Home Office have released amended guidance on the late night levy [pdf]. The power to introduce the levy became law in October 2012, enabling licensing authorities to charge a levy as a means of raising a contribution towards police and council accrued costs of the late-night economy.

Early morning alcohol restriction orders (EMROs) are also now available to local authorities to restrict the sale of alcohol between midnight and 6am - see EMRO factsheet.

The late night levy guidance sets out considerations for the local design and implementation of the levy, including consideration of any financial risk (for example lower than expected revenue) to premises. It also outlines options for the use of gathered funds and allocation of fees between the local authority and the police.

A number of local authorities have consulted on the late night levy and the use of EMRO, however the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) have set up a 'fighting fund' to cover the cost of legal challenges against EMROs or the levy. The Morning Advertiser recently reported that Newcaslte City Council will consult on the late night levy which could be used to fund taxi marshalling, street pastors, enforcement and safety initiatives and toilet provision.

All Home Office licensing guidance can be accessed here, including revised guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Home Office updates: New licensing powers come into effect 31st October; latest premises licences statistics

New Licensing powers will come into effect this week - see Home Office release. From the 31st October, local authorities will have the discretion to introduce Early Morning Restriction Orders (EMROs) and a 'late night levy' as part of plans to "re-balance" the licensing act through greater powers to councils and residents.

EMROs will allow local authorities to restrict the sale of alcohol between midnight and 6am - see EMRO factsheet. The late-night levy will allow charges to licences to contribute to the costs linked to late night drinking, such as extra policing and street cleaning - see late night levy fact sheet. Decisions on the powers were released earlier this year following a consultation.

The late-night levy and early morning alcohol restriction orders (EMROs) were set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. See here for the Government Alcohol Strategy or here for a series of factsheets on the licensing changes.

Premises license numbers 2011/12

The Home Office have released 2011/12 statistics for alcohol licensed premises and associated activities. The release highlights as "Headline figures":

• 202,000 premises licences, the same as on 31 March 2010; [up 3% on 2008]
• 15,900 club premises certificates, 6% fewer than in 2010; and
• 502,400 personal licences, 16% more than in 2010.

Of the 202,000 total premises licences, a Home Office briefing highlights:

• 35,500 premises were licensed for on-sales of alcohol only (up 1% on 2010);
• 51,100 premises were licensed for off-sales or supply of alcohol only (up 5%);
• 82,900 premises were licensed for on- or off-sales or supply (up 1%).
• The remaining 32,500 premises were not permitted to sell alcohol, down 9% on 2010

The statistics also show:

• An increase of 8% in the number of premises with 24 hour licenses
• An increase of 6% in 'Premises licences off-sales or supply of alcohol only'
• A decrease of 5% in 'Club premises certificates on-sales of alcohol only'

Download the full statistics here (xls) and full separate Home Office briefings here. See here for an interesting and perhaps still relevant 2009 report, 'Pubs aren't dying - they are evolving'.

London Health Improvement Board's alcohol priority takes shape

Since 2011, the shadow London Health Improvement Board (LHIB) has been working with a variety of partners to improve the health of all Londoners and reduce inequalities in health outcomes. The LHIB aims to deliver city-wide action to generate better outcomes for Londoners, with a particular focus on key areas of alcohol, obesity and cancer.

For the alcohol priority, work has been developing to deliver action on:

• Vision and Partnership - developing a London-wide vision for how London should view and relate to alcohol and a partnership framework t support action across sectors
• Licensing and Enforcement - supporting local authorities and their partners in creating a well-managed night time economy by developing a set of licensing and enforcement standards
• Early Intervention - ensuring that Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) is delivered effectively across a wide range of key settings in London including criminal justice, acute and primary care.

As part of the 'Early Intervention' work programme, an IBA Practitioners Network is currently being established to develop leadership and peer support around IBA delivery. The Network is currently seeking London practitioners from a range of health, social care and criminal justice settings who are committed to supporting IBA delivery. If you are a London based health or social care practitioner and committed to IBA delivery please get in touch.

In 2013, an Early Intervention and Prevention Leadership Summit event will take place to support the programme and ensure strategic buy-in and leadership.

Reducing violence through data: Emergency Department data sharing e-learning; DH Guidance on information sharing

A&E data sharing e-learning

An e-learning resource - Reducing Violence in your Community: Emergency Department Datasharing - has been released to support data sharing between the Accident and Emergency Departments (EDs) and Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs). In addition, an ED Datasharing report and a number of data sharing case studies are available.

The 30 minute e-learning course is designed to support better understanding of what information sharing is and how it can be used to support violence reduction. It may be useful for ED staff - from receptionists to consultants, CSP staff - from managers to analysts, Police and Crime Commissioners, Directors of Public Health, Staff in Clinical Commissioning Groups or Health Wellbeing Boards.

Guidance on information sharing to reduce violence

The Department of Health have released broader guidance on Information Sharing to Tackle Violence (pdf). It highlights how Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) can reduce violence in their community by encouraging A&Es to collect and share information on time, type and location of assault.

It identifies that CSPs, made up of local authorities, the Police and other local agencies, can share information to identify where violence is happening and inform local interventions to tackle it. It suggests interventions such as restricting alcohol licensing and targeting policing can have a big impact on community safety.

Securing and sharing good local data has long been a key challenge of effective local alcohol strategy to reduce related crime and disorder. As of this year, health authorities have also become a 'responsible authority' for local licensing decisions and the guidance states:

"Health bodies can present health-related evidence (where relevant to the licensing objectives), such as data on violence-related A&E attendances and ambulance callouts, to licensing authorities." (p.7)

Importantly health is still not a licensing objective, therefore any evidence still has to meet existing objectives such as prevention of crime and disorder. Many health authorities appear to have been struggling to contribute any new data to the process - alcohol-related A&E data has historically been difficult to collect, and ambulance of police data often not specific or detailed enough. The "Cardiff model" of A&E data sharing (or full report) was considered a groundbreaking project in this area.

A list of Home Office factsheets on the licensing changes are available.

'Checked out: the role of ID checks in controlling underage drinking' - report warns of underage drinking from online sales

A new report warns that online alcohol sales and purchasing by friends and family are creating a significant and emerging battleground in the fight against underage drinking. The report was published last month by ‘test purchasing’ company Serve Legal and Plymouth University. 

Download Checked Out: the role of ID checks in controlling underage drinking [pdf]

A University of Plymouth press release highlighted:

High street retailers have become significantly better at checking the age of potential underage drinker in recent years. In 2007 the ID of teenage mystery shoppers attempting to buy alcohol from retailers or pubs was checked just over half of the time (55%). By 2010, ID was checked in more than seven in ten cases (71%).

However, the report warns that while greater vigilance by retailers has helped reduce alcohol consumption among young people, it has also prompted a shift in the way underage drinkers are getting hold of booze. Online retailers are identified as a key potential source of alcohol for underage drinkers, presenting a window of opportunity for under-age drinkers looking to circumvent the stricter alcohol policies now in place in many high street retailers.

Researchers uncovered a number of websites that sold alcohol where there was either no discernible age-check policy or a simple disclaimer noting that the consumer needed to be over 18 to complete the purchase. Even major retailers, many of which have age-related policies in place regarding on-line alcohol purchases, mainly relied on an ID check at the point of delivery, placing delivery workers in potentially confrontational situations. 

The report also identifies ‘proxy-purchasing’ as a growing trend with 42% of underage drinkers claiming to have bought alcohol from friends, relatives or “someone else”. Data contained in the report found that while just 4% of underage consumers would try to buy alcohol at the till in a large supermarket, 74% would attempt to obtain alcohol from parents and 86% from older siblings or friends.

Ed Heaver, Director of Serve Legal who commissioned the report, said:  “The battleground is changing in the fight against underage drinking – online retailers need to take heed of this warning and improve their age-checking procedures. Meanwhile parents and friends also need to understand the harm their proxy purchasing is doing.”

It was also reported in The Telegraph. In 2009 Alcohol Policy UK published a guest post on Alcohol home delivery services: a liberalisation too far?

Home Office decisions on EMROs and Late Night Levy following consultation

The government has published its response to the consultation Dealing with the Problems of Late Night Drinking [pdf]. Draft legislation has been laid in parliament so that later this year local councils will be able to:

• use early morning alcohol restriction orders (EMROs) to restrict the sale of alcohol in all or part of their areas between midnight and 6am
• charge a levy for late-night licences to contribute to the cost of extra policing, and other costs linked to late-night drinking like street cleaning 

The consultation response outlines the following decisions:

EMROS

• Persons that may be affected by an EMRO will have 42 days to make relevant representations for, or against, a proposed EMRO. (Paragraph 2.06)
• Licensing authorities will be required to notify licensed premises that would be included in the scope of a proposed EMRO, rather than all licensed premises in the licensing authority area. (Paragraph 2.07)
• A proposal to introduce an EMRO should be publicised on the licensing authority’s website and in their local newspaper. (Paragraph 2.07)
• EMROs will not apply on New Year’s Eve. (Paragraph 2.10)
• There will be no exemptions from EMROs. There will be provision to ensure that premises with overnight accommodation can still provide room service and mini-bars, if they are included in the scope of an EMRO. (Paragraph 2.17-2.18)

LATE NIGHT LEVY 

• Local residents can use their existing rights to make representations and other channels of communication to call for the implementation of the levy in their area. (Paragraph 3.04)
• Premises with overnight accommodation (Paragraph 3.09), theatres, cinemas (Paragraph 3.12), bingo halls (Paragraph 3.14), CASCs (Paragraph 3.16), community premises (Paragraph 3.17), country village pubs (Paragraph 3.18) and BIDs (Paragraph 3.20) will be available as a discretionary local exemption from the levy.
• Restaurants (Paragraph 3.11), casinos (Paragraph 3.14) and private member’s clubs (Paragraph 3.26) will not be available as a discretionary local exemption from the levy.
• The levy will not apply on New Year’s Eve. (Paragraph 3.29)
• Licensing authorities will be able to offer a 30% reduction from the levy for best practice schemes that meet relevant criteria (Paragraph 3.34) and pubs that are in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief and have a rateable value below £12,000 (Paragraph 3.45).
• There will be no cumulative discounts from the levy. (Paragraph 3.40)
• Licensing authorities will be able to fund services that are connected to the management of the night-time economy and services that prevent and tackle alcohol-related crime and disorder with their revenue from the levy. (Paragraph 3.56)

The late-night levy and early morning alcohol restriction orders (EMROs) were set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. The full consultation details are set out here.

See here for a series of factsheets on the licensing changes.

News & updates June 2012: Half a unit per day would save lives; 1 in 8 working age deaths alcohol related; welfare plans under attack; ASDA donates £1m to Addaction; diary dates

Headlines that half a unit a day would save thousands of lives have been triggered by a BMJ article which modelled the impact of changes in consumption. Lead author Dr Melanie Nichols said: “It is likely that government recommendations would need to be set at a much lower level than the current ‘low risk’ drinking guidelines in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for public health.” But the authors did not directly call for a lowering of the guidelines, which currently under review. See reports from the BBC, Telegraph, Guardian and an explanation from NHS Choices.

Headlines also reported that 1 in 8 deaths under the age of 64 are caused by alcohol, following comments from Professor Eileen Kaner who called for tougher policy action including a ban on marketing. A Newcastle University conference heard that European alcohol consumption is more than twice the global average - see Press Association and Daily Mail reports. However the source of the data has been questioned, meriting an analysis on FullFact.

Plans to dock benefits of drug and alcohol abusers who reject help have come under fire. Drugscope have written to Iain Duncan Smith to clarify welfare plans he is expected to announce shortly - BBC, Guardian & Drugscope statement. Meanwhile the Commons Speaker John Bercow has said more MPs are seeking help for alcohol problems as Parliament attempts to crack down on Westminster's drinking culture- Telegraph report.

Dedicated alcohol ambulances are to treat drinkers over the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Olympics and European football championships - Daily Telegraph. Alcohol sensors should be in every car to cut drink-related road deaths and injuries, says the government's former chief drugs adviser David Nutt - BBC report.

Trade & industry news

Supermarket giant ASDA has pledged £1m to Addaction, a national charity that helps young people and families tackle problems with alcohol. The £1m will fund ‘Reach Out’, a new support programme run from Addaction services in Barnsley, Cornwall and Liverpool.

National Pubwatch (NPW) has launched an online mapping tool to help the organisation draw up a list of pubwatch schemes across the UK. SABMiller and the BII are set to launch a new scheme aimed at helping bar staff battle against alcohol abuse and under-age sales.

A licensed trade consultant has launched an e-petition calling on the Government to take action against under 18-year-olds who attempt to buy alcohol in pubs. The industry petition calling to end the beer duty escalator has hit 50,000 signatures - half way to forcing a debate on the issue in Parliament.

Tax duty stamps can be counterfeited, a HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) official admitted last week. A current inquiry into beer tax fraud is taking place.

Events & dates

A Drinkaware seminar on Influencing young people’s attitudes and behaviours towards alcohol at the University of Leeds, Thursday 14 June 2012, 9.30 – 1.30pm. Email kevans@drinkaware.co.uk to register. City Health 2012 will take place in the City of London’s historic Guildhall on 22nd and 23rd October 2012. See here for other events.

Applications for Middlesex University's MA in Comparative Drug and Alcohol Studies close on the 18th June.