Agenda item

To request that the Committee review and agree the draft revision of the Council’s Statement of Gambling Policy which will run for three years from the 31 January 2019 following public consultation and adoption by the Full Council.

 

Minutes:

It was reported that the Council was required to review and renew its Statement of Gambling Policy every three years in accordance with the Gambling Act 2005.  The review and renewal of the policy was subject to public consultation and must be adopted by Full Council on recommendation from the Licensing and Registration Committee.

 

Section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005 53 prescribed that:-

 

(1)  A licensing authority shall before each successive period of three years—

      (a)     prepare a statement of the principles that they propose to apply in

               exercising their functions under this Act during that period, and

      (b)     publish the statement.

 

(2)  A licensing authority shall—

      (a)     review their statement under this section from time to time,

      (b)     if they think it necessary in the light of a review, revise the statement,

               and

      (c)     publish any revision before giving it effect.

 

(3)  In preparing a statement or revision under this section a licensing authority shall consult—

 

(a)   either—

 

(i)           in England and Wales, the chief officer of police for the authority's area, or

(ii)          in Scotland, the chief constable of the police force maintained

         for the police area comprising that area,

 

(b)   one or more persons who appear to the authority to represent the interests of persons carrying on gambling businesses in the authority's area, and

 

(c)   one or more persons who appear to the authority to represent the interests of persons who are likely to be affected by the exercise of the authority's functions under this Act.

 

The Gambling Act 2005 placed a statutory responsibility on all Local Authorities to be responsible for the issuing of various permissions, permits and notices relating to the use of premises for gambling activities:-

 

a)     Consideration of applications for premises licences for:

               • Casinos

               • Bingo premises

               • Betting premises and Race tracks

               • Adult gaming centres

               • Family entertainment centres

 

b)     Consideration of applications for permits for:

               • Gaming machines in alcohol-licensed premises, such as pubs

               • Gaming machines for members clubs

 Gaming in members clubs

              • Unlicensed family entertainments centres (category D machines only – i.e. those that have the lowest level of stakes and prizes)

               • Prize gaming

 

      c)      Temporary use notices

      d)      Occasional use notices

      e)      Provisional Statements

      f)       Registration of small society lotteries

 

Each Authority was legally required to formulate its own Gambling Licensing Policy Statement which must be reviewed and re-published every three years.

 

The policy must be based on the three licensing objectives, which were;

 

·            Preventing gambling from being a source of crime and disorder, being associated   with crime or disorder, or being used to support crime;

 

·           Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way;

 

·            Protecting children and other vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gaming.

 

The Committee was informed that the Council’s current Statement of Gambling Policy had been in place and in force since 31 January 2016.  This proposed draft and review of the policy will be the fifth that has taken place since the first policy was adopted in 2006.

 

Members were made aware that the frame work of this policy had originally been initiated and designed by the Essex Licensing Officers Forum so that applicants and existing businesses in the betting and gaming industry that have outlets across Essex would have a template to recognise and work with across a wide range of different Local Authorities in Essex.  It also ensured a framework of generic best practice amongst all Essex Authorities and ensured that any necessary regulatory requirements did not unnecessarily burden businesses who had applications to make for licensed outlets across Essex such as a chain of betting shops for example.

 

This had also enabled the development of a robust and practical policy through partnership for how the Gambling Act 2005 would be administered and compliance was managed for applicants and licence and permit holders alike.

 

The policy framework had then been augmented by local requirements and local strategy since 2006 to reflect the Authority’s own area as influenced by public consultation and Tendring District Council’s Licensing Committee Members.

 

Councillor Whitmore queried why under Part B Premises Licences, item 15.16 referred to “protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling”, whereas in in Part C Permits/Temporary or Occasional Use Notices/Registrations item 26.3 simply referred to children and not vulnerable persons.  The Licensing Manager explained that this was what the legislation stated, and that the definition of “vulnerable person” was not defined within the Gambling Act 2005.

 

Having considered and discussed the draft Statement of Gambling Policy it was moved by Councillor Amos, seconded by Councillor B E Brown and RESOLVED that:

 

(a)  Members take time to digest the new Policy and come back to the next meeting            of the Committee with any further questions to the Licensing Manager.

 

 

(b)  the Council’s draft Statement of Gambling Policy, as submitted by Officers be   approved for statutory and public consultation purposes, subject to amendments          in Part C to include “vulnerable persons”

 

(c)  the programme and timetable for consultation, review, approval, publication and           implementation of the revised Statement of Gambling Policy be as set out below:-

 

Signpost

Outcome

Licensing & Registration Committee 18 July 2018

Committee review and agree proposed draft of Gambling policy and agree it goes out to public consultation commencing 1 August 2018 and ends 24 October 2018

Licensing & Registration Committee TBC

Committee review outcome of consultation and agree final content of policy and recommend adoption of policy to Full Council.

Full Council 22 January 2019

Full Council agrees Licensing & Registration Committees recommendation to adopt revised policy

Policy to be published on Council’s web site by 28 January 2019

Policy published on website

Public Notice of adoption to be published in local newspaper by 28 January 2019

Public Notice published in newspaper

Commencement of new three year policy from 31 January 2019

Policy runs from 2019 to 2022 (with any future administrative amendments as required by legislation or gambling commission guidance).

 

(d)  authority be delegated to the Head of Customer and Commercial Services and/or Licensing Manager, in       consultation with the Chairman, or failing him, the Vice-Chairman, of the            Committee, to make any future non-contentious administrative, or statutory, changes to the Policy that could result from any revised Gambling Commission    guidance or legislation.

 

Supporting documents: