Memorandum submitted by the Wine and Spirit
Trade Association (WSTA)
1. The Wine & Spirit Trade Association
(WSTA) is the UK organisation which represents the whole of the
wine and spirit supply chain including producers, importers, wholesalers,
bottlers, warehouse keepers, freight forwarders, brand owners,
licensed retailers and consultants. The WSTA was has over 330
members and includes amongst its member companies, most of the
supermarket and specialist off licence chains operating in typical
towns and city centres. The nature of our organisation means that
we are best placed to comment on aspects of Committee's inquiry
related to the administration of the licensing regime for off-trade
retailers.
2. The WSTA seeks to function as a driver
for best practise in off-trade alcohol sales and we provide the
secretariat for the Retail of Alcohol Standards Group (RASG),
a forum for competing off-trade retailers to share training methods
and good practise. RASG has been successful in rolling out the
Challenge 21 signage which has now been widely adopted by on and
off-trade premises across the UK. RASG has also been active in
partnership working with local authorities, pioneering the innovative
Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) model with Cambridgeshire
County Council (see accompanying booklet).
3. The WSTA broadly welcomes the Licensing
Act and the greater flexibility it has allowed which has been
mainly positive both for business and for the many customers who
value the opportunity to purchase alcohol as part of a weekly
shop at times which suit them. We also welcome the additional
and more flexible powers given to enforcement agencies to deal
with any problems arising around licensed activity.
4. However, our concern is that the greater
delegation of powers down to a local level has led to inconsistencies
in the way that Local Authorities have interpreted and implemented
the Act. In some cases authorities have set or tried to set licensing
conditions which are not evidence based and which can be counter
productive or possibly even illegal. At the annex below, we list
some examples as reported by our member companies.
5. The central concern here is the unnecessarily
burdensome nature of the approach of some local authorities and
the wide variation between the approaches taken by different areas.
While we welcome the enforcement of existing laws on alcohol,
some of the approaches taken by Local Authorities seem designed
to increase the level of bureaucracy for an off-licensed premise
rather than address any specific poor conduct around the sale
of alcohol.
6. We believe that the Government needs
to do much more to guide Local Authority licensing officers towards
solutions which are known to work. The Government needs to promote
best practice and evidence based solutions through better regulation
and partnership working. We endorse the recent NAO analysis of
the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003. It commented: "Where
the Licensing Act appeared to be being used most rigorously and
effectively the members of the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership,
and primarily the local authority and the police, had built up
a good relationship with the licensed trade and worked to help
them understand the business benefits of the Act". (Report:
HO Reducing the Risk of Crime 21 February 2008, National Audit
Office).
7. We believe that local authorities can
achieve better results by working in partnership with local retailers,
as per the CAP model. This approach is far less resource intensive
for local authorities and retailers can provide valuable intelligence
to aid enforcement. Furthermore, by enforcing the offences of
proxy purchasing alcohol on behalf of children and attempted underage
purchase, this approach creates a much needed deterrent to illegal
behaviour around alcohol on the demand side. The WSTA would be
pleased to work with any Local Authority that wishes to institute
partnership working.
8. Finally, the recent introduction of local
better regulation offices should we believe become the key means
for ensuring that consistent better regulation is implemented.
| 
