DrinkWise recently organised a Public Health Licensing workshop to
explore and discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Public
Health playing a meaningful role in licensing.
Presentations on the day included:
DrinkWise are also encouraging discussion and best practice sharing on the Drink Wise discussion forum. In London the Safer Sociable London Partnership have also been running Licensing masterclasses to help support London boroughs - large pdf slide set here.
In England new licensing powers have been in effect since last year as part of the the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PRSA) 2011. The changes included councils becoming 'responsible authorities'. However only a few local authorities have so far implemented measures such as the Late Night Levy, though in Scotland an evaluation of Scotland's Licensing 2005 Act has reported positive impacts.
A number of toolkits and guidance documents have since been released to try and support local action in England, including developing effective public health responses. However with public health absent from England's licensing act core objectives, progress may rely on good data sharing to improve responses to existing objectives.
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