Police to get back their licensing influence

Police are to be given the power once again to influence whether an individual is allowed to open a pub, casino or nightclub.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced yesterday that the test to determine whether an applicant was a fit and proper person to be granted a licence would be reintroduced after being ditched under the Licensing Act 2005.

It means police will be able to influence licensing boards across Scotland as they determine whether permission to trade should be granted.

Mr MacAskill told delegates at an Alcohol Focus Scotland conference that scrapping the test had been a loss to the licensing system and reinstating it would make sure licences to sell alcohol were not given to inappropriate people.

“There are some people who should not be allowed to sell alcohol and the fit-and-proper-person test gave police the right to give information to help licensing boards identify these individuals,” he said. “I have listened to the concerns of our police officers and a number of licensing board members and I have decided that the fit-and-proper-person test was a loss to the licensing system and so I will reinstate the necessary police powers.”

Police will use the lever mostly to influence decisions if the applicant has a criminal record.

Aberdeen Licensing Board member Willie Young said the Scottish Government should consider drawing up guidelines to illustrate for clarity what constituted a person who was not fit and proper to hold a licence.

“All proposals are examined on their own merits and, if the police say that someone is not a fit and proper person, they must explain why because we cannot take their word for it,” he said.

“At the end of the day, it is licensing boards who decide what fit-and-proper means and we need some basis to support what is essentially an opinion.”

Mr MacAskill said that if Scotland’s relationship with alcohol was going to change, you could not have “all manner of criminals and hoodlums” being allowed in the licensed trade.