To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992.  See attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 13.09.16 as an accurate record of the proceedings.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 13^th September 2016 were agreed as an accurate record of the proceedings.

The report was introduced by Tom Lewis, Team Leader, Licensing who advised the Committee that the report was requesting the setting of a non-standard licence fee of £1,916 for the Tattoo Collective which is a 3 day event due to take place at The Old Truman Brewery on the 17^th-19^th February 2017. The event involves around 150 Tattooists from around the UK providing tattoos to members of the public over the 3 days. A special treatment licence is required for the premises and a one-off licence fee is requested to ensure cost recovery, so that Officers can carry out the relevant checks, inspections and if needed, corrective actions to ensure that the event is safe and the risk associated with blood borne viruses are managed. The event has the same organisers as the London Tattoo Convention which is held each year at Tobacco Dock in Wapping Lane. The venue capacity for the event is 2500 persons at any one time for the 3 days and therefore there is an increased risk of the spread of infection due to the huge volume of visitors undergoing some sort of skin piercing activity.

The Committee raised the following issues: -

·       The fee seemed quite low for such a large event, could the fee not be marginally increased to take into account officer time;

·       Based upon the figures presented in Appendix 1, it works out to be that the officer time would be spent on average about 4 minutes per tattooist, is this enough time to complete inspections and health and safety checks;

·       It doesn’t seem long enough to inspect 150 individual tattooists;

·       What were the costs last year;

·       Are the 150 Tattooists individually checked;

·       Would there be a corporate risk to Tower Hamlets by checking the Tattooists who may or may not be licensed or trained accordingly;

·       What happens if a blood virus is spread, who is liable, Tower Hamlets or the Organisers; and

·       Are the events monitored to gauge the accuracy of the officers time spent on inspections etc. and is the information used for future events.

Tom Lewis informed the Committee that the event is being run by the same organisers who run the London Tattoo Convention each year held at Tobacco Dock and as such there has already been a level of compliance. All the information submitted by the organisers in the “Event Plan” is checked prior to the event including individual Tattooists and whether they are trained and licenced. Spot checks are also completed by officers during the event. If someone contracts a blood borne infection then the organisers of the event are liable as they have a duty of care to the event and its customers. All costs are comparable and have taken into account legislation that only allows for cost recovery. Costs last year cannot be taken into account as it was a different event. He also informed the Committee that the event is monitored including the officers time and this information is then  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.1

The report was introduced by Vincent Fajilagmago, Licensing Officer who provided the Committee with an update relating to the Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) initiative in Mile End and the Best Bar None (BBN) Scheme within the Borough. He informed the Committee of the following: -

·       The aim of the CAP and BBN was to seek to lower alcohol related crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) with the Borough.

·       The first CAP area focussed on Bethnal Green and St Peter’s Ward where the main issue of concern identified the underage sales by off-licences in the area. CAP referred these premises to a responsible retail training scheme that was being run by the Environmental Health and Trading Standards Service to address the concerns.

·       A CAP survey was undertaken between November 2015 and December 2015 across Tower Hamlets to gauge residents’ views on alcohol related crime and ASB. The results of the survey indicated Mile End as an area that suffered from public alcohol consumption and also highlighted that adults were the main cause of discomfort but with young people becoming involved with drinking and ASB.

·       As a result of the survey and information relating to crime a CAP scheme was set up in Mile End.

·       The CAP in Mile End concentrated on three main areas; Engagement, Education and Enforcement –

o   Engagement – a youth cohort was identified and the CAP strategy involved taking these youth off the streets through supporting and introducing structured sessions and employment opportunities. The Youth Employment Project (YEP) and the aesthetic improvements to the Mile End Park have assisted the cohort to become involved in other activities of seeking employment and improving local perceptions of the area and as a result over 40 young people have been in engaged.

o   Education – The CAP created a “Drop Down Day” product modelled on guidance from the Alcohol Education Trust and offered it free to schools and young groups within the area. This consisted of assembly talks on alcohol awareness being arranged with 4 schools to date and St Paul’s Way Academy now requesting alcohol related first aid sessions for their 243 young people. This has now been arranged with the Red Cross free of charge to be delivered to St Paul’s Way Academy.

o   Enforcement – The CAP introduced “Challenge 25” and issued free posters to the off-licenses in the Mile End area and its surrounding wards. Then compliance testing was carried out in August 2016 and test purchase operations with Trading Standards for underage sales in September 2016. 22 were tested with 5 failures who were issued with warning letters and offered training.

·       The CAP also went into the Urban Adventure Base (UAB), which a youth club based in Mile End and assisted them to effectively use their CCTV system to record evidence of ASB activity and to provide this evidence to the Safer Communities Tasking Group who then requested THEO patrols over 4 weeks. As a result there were 17 patrols conducted between 26 September to 24  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.2

There was no urgent business.