Agenda item

RESOLVED: That the Licensing Service Annual Report 2021-2022 be noted.

Audio Recording – 4:24

The Licensing Manager presented the Licensing Service Annual Report 2020-2021 and drew attention to the following:

·         Annual licensed premises at December last year were given a 6 month extension owing to the economic impact of COVID-19 and the inability to conduct inspections

·         Taxi traders were given three opportunities to apply for COVID-19 relief funding which was well received

·         Ways of working were adapted to accommodate the public health situation, and many of these adaptations were well received by license holders and have been continued;

·         Customer engagement has been a focus of the last 12 months;

·         The team had taken on an apprentice who was making improvements on the Licensing Team’s website and the resources they provide;

·         Inspections procedure was reviewed and there were now more categories of inspection

·         Staff new to licensing less than 12 months ago were undertaking continual training and most of the team now held a formal licensing qualification, which would lead to cost savings;

·         Apprentices in the Licensing team had been a valuable asset;

·         Pre-application advice as a source of income generation was in development which would be of benefit to customers as well as the Council;

·         The team was investigating customer engagement and channel shift to develop online means of access for customers.

The following Members asked questions:

·         Councillor Richard Thake

·         Councillor David Barnard

·         Councillor Gerald Morris

·         Councillor Tom Tyson

In response to questions the Licensing Manager advised:

·         Statutory functions can only be charged at cost;

·         Pre-application advice as a non-statutory function could be set at a reasonable fee but could be used to develop income for the Council;

·         Personal license qualifications and accreditation as a qualification provider could be investigated;

·         At this stage some documents could not be received online, such as DBS certifications or driving licenses; the right to work checks required by central government were being reviewed now that face to face appointments were a possibility;

·         Tax checks were now also a requirement and certain documents would have to be seen in person

·         Fees were two part; a standard fee for any premises and for events of more than 5,000 people there were additional fees applicable;

·         Under the Licensing Act the additional fees able to be charged intended to cover officer and Committee work ahead of a licensing determination were generous;

·         Logs of officer time were kept to ensure adequate recompense was made;

·         There were four full time members of staff in the Licensing team; it had been a difficult 12 months to judge but as normality returned there were now the right number and the right people in the team to take the service forward;

·         In 2018/19 the team was stretched as there were only 4 offices working in the team;

·         In October and November a number of animal inspections had taken place in preparation for renewals;

·         When the first draft event management plans were received a summary would be circulated to ward members to ensure that local communities were made aware of events planned locally;

·         The government had extended….for 30 September 2022 and the relevant Minister had mentioned it may become a permanent district Council function;

·         Work was ongoing in the Licensing Team to update their pages on the new Council website.

On the vote it was:

RESOLVED: That the Annual Report 2021-2022 be noted.