To receive apologies for absence.

None.

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

None.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of Schedule 1, Schedule 2 or Other Interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

None.

To receive the minutes of the meetings held on 6 March 2019 and 29 March 2019.

RESOLVED:       That the minutes of the meetings held on 6 March 2019 and  29 March 2019 be approved as a correct record.

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Details of the scheme and related guidance are available here:

 https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/info/200148/your_council/61/get_involved

Please submit questions to councillorservices@herefordshire.gov.uk

The deadline for the receipt of questions is Wednesday 17 July 2019 at 5.00 pm.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

A copy of the questions and answers is appended to these minutes.

To receive any written questions from members of the council.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5.00 pm on Wednesday 17 July 2019.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

Please submit questions to councillorservices@herefordshire.gov.uk

None.

To review the statement of principles (Gambling Policy) to be applied by the council when exercising licensing functions under the Gambling Act 2005 (the Act).

The committee was invited to review the statement of principles (Gambling Policy) to be applied by the council when exercising licensing functions under the Gambling Act 2005 (the Act).

The Acting Assistant Director for Regulatory Environment and Waste introduced the report.  He reported that the Gambling Act 2005 required the Council to have a statement of gambling licensing policy.  The revised policy, as appended, was largely unchanged.  However, amendments had been made to reflect the requirements of two new codes issued by the Gambling Commission: Licensing Conditions and Code of Practice (LCCP) and the Social Responsibility Code.

In discussion the following principal points were made (references in brackets are to the policy set out in the appendix to the report:

·        (para 1.1) The wording currently states ‘to promote gambling in accordance with the licensing objectives’.  Clarification was sought on whether this might more accurately reflect the council’s role to ‘enable’ gambling rather than promote it.   It was noted that the licensing authority is there to ‘’promote compliance’ and not to promote gambling.

·        (para 1.4) It was proposed that the word ‘used’ in line one should be replaced by ’inform’ to read: “The Licensing Authority is required to publish a Gambling Licensing Policy that will inform it when exercising its licensing functions.”.  Officers agreed to this proposed wording change.

·         A general point was raised about the number of technical and legal terms used in the report.  It was argued that the report would be strengthened and would aid the readers understanding if a glossary of terms were to be included. 

·        It was asked how Herefordshire’s response to the consultation on this policy compared to other local authority areas.  In response it was suggested that Herefordshire tended to have a low consultation response compared to larger authority settings, where more contentious licensing decisions were taken. 

·        (paragraph 5.5) This referred to determining an application for a premises licence without a hearing if the authority thought that the representations were vexatious or frivolous, or would not influence the determination of the application.  It was noted that this was terminology drawn directly from the legislation.  Its purpose was to allow officers to determine that any objections raised, for example, were not from a competitor businesses who may have financial interests in the outcome of the licensing decision.  There were strict criteria that officers would apply in determining whether objections were valid.

·        A further question concerned whether the policy included reference to transfers or variation of licenses.  Officers commented that transfers and variations were not stated clearly in the document; the functions in the Act provided for the determination of all applications including transfers and variations.  The purpose of the policy was to show how Herefordshire Council would carry out those functions locally.  The availability of information to applicants about making an application was raised. A general view emerged that it would be helpful to make this information more visible in the policy document.

·        (para 15.6)  In relation to operating a proof of age scheme for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To review the committee’s work programme.

The Committee reviewed its work programme.

The principal considerations centred on scrutiny of the budget and medium term financial strategy (MTFS).  The options under consideration were to review the budget ahead of/during the formal consultation and/or after the consultation had been completed.  It was also noted that the local government financial settlement (LGFS) was scheduled for late autumn (in previous years LGFS has been announced in December).  It was proposed that a two stage approach to scrutinising the budget should be the preferred option.  In addition, this would be conveyed to the Children and Young People and the Adults and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committees, to ensure their scrutiny could mirror this approach.

The committee agreed that the budget and MTFS would be added to the November Scrutiny meeting and then reviewed again at the proposed January meeting.

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer agreed to provide members of the committee with information on a briefing that was being planned on the question of devolution of car parking revenue to market towns. 

RESOLVED:

That:     (a)     the draft work programme as set out at appendix 1 to the report be approved as amended;

              (b)     the Statutory Scrutiny Officer be authorised, following consultation with the chairperson and vice-chairperson, to add items to the work programme where it is necessary to ensure their timely consideration where there is no scheduled meeting to approve their inclusion; and

              (c)     the Statutory Scrutiny Officer be authorised, following consultation with the chairperson and vice-chairperson to finalise arrangements for scrutiny of topics within the work programme.

The next scheduled meeting is Monday 23 September 2019.

Monday 23 September 2019 at 10.15 am.