SBPA critical of licensing board conduct

September 19, 2007: The Scottish Beer and Pub Association (SBPA) has criticised the conduct of the North Ayrshire Licensing Board for allowing three of its members to resign after they 'failed' to gain a qualification for licensing board members, only to then reappoint two of them back onto the board, giving them another chance to pass the tests.

It is a requirement of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 that within the three months period of them being appointed to the licensing board, members must obtain a qualification to allow them to sit on it.

Patrick Browne, chief executive of the SBPA, who, himself, formerly served as a member of the board, said: "The conduct of the North Ayrshire Licensing Board on this matter may not break the letter of the law, but it certainly breaks the spirit of it.

"The board sits in judgement on licensees and it is very worrying that three board members could actually fail a test to gain a qualification which is a good deal less onerous than that which personal licence holders from the trade will be expected to obtain under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005.

"The conduct of the board in allowing members to resign and then to reappoint two of them back onto the board, in order to give them a further three months to gain the required qualification, must be highly suspect in this case. Licensees in North Ayrshire should rightly expect the same 'latitude' to be shown to them by the board going forward, as the board has shown to its own board members."

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