Agenda and draft minutes

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The Chair referred to the notice of filming at meetings and this information was noted.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Liz Morris, Councillor Daniel Stone, and Councillor Sarah Williams.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with under item 9 below).

There were no items of urgent business.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, paragraph 29 of the Council’s constitution.

There were no deputations, petitions, presentations, or questions.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 27 May 2021 as a correct record.

To note the Special Licensing Sub-Committee decisions from May 2021.

RESOLVED

1.    To confirm and sign the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 27 May 2021 as a correct record.

2.    To note the Special Licensing Sub-Committee decisions from May 2021.

To consider the draft Statement of Gambling Policy.

The Licensing Team Leader introduced the report which sought to consult the Licensing Committee on the draft Statement of Gambling Policy 2022-2025 and the draft Local Area Profile. It was noted that it was a requirement to review the Council’s Statement of Gambling Policy every three years. The current policy was adopted in January 2019 and was therefore due for review in 2021, to be published in January 2022.

The Licensing Team Leader explained that there were three licensing objectives for gambling: ensuring that gambling was conducted in a fair and open way; preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder; and protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling. It was noted that gambling was legal but did have the potential to cause harm. It was explained that problem gambling disproportionately affected certain groups, including ethnic minorities, young people, those in the criminal justice system, and homeless people.

The Committee was informed that there had been a government ‘call for evidence’ on the review of the Gambling Act 2005 which had closed in March 2021. The council had responded to the call for evidence and had asked for a stronger commitment to empower councils to listen to the concerns of the local community by removing the ‘aim to permit’ requirement. It was noted that a copy of the response was included alongside the report, at Appendix 3.

It was highlighted that no major changes were proposed to the Statement of Gambling Policy and Local Area Profile as there had been no new legislation of Gambling Commission guidance. However, there would be updated and more detailed data, including census data, crime data, and Indices of Deprivation 2019 data. It was noted that the draft documents would be subject to wide consultation and were due to presented to Cabinet in November 2021 and to Full Council in December 2021.

The Chair commented that it would be useful for some external research to be conducted to better inform the Local Area Profile and suggested that it could be helpful to work with universities who might be able to obtain grants for research. The Licensing Team Manager noted that external research was very costly and she did not believe that any local authorities had existing data which demonstrated gambling harm. The Chair suggested that it would be helpful to bring this to the attention of the Cabinet Member and the Committee noted that the University of Salford specialised in gambling research.

Some members noted that it would have been beneficial for the Licensing Committee to see the draft response to the call for evidence on the review of the Gambling Act 2005. It was commented that the Committee might have asked for stronger comments in relation to advertising and to restrictions for additional costs within gambling apps, such as ‘lootboxes’ which encouraged players to pay for additional prizes. It was agreed that future responses would be shared with the Committee and/ or the lead  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider any items of urgent business as identified at item 3.

There were no new items of urgent business.