This briefing deals with the local government licensing aspects of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill. A separate SPICe briefing looks at the licensing of air weapons.
The Bill proposes to make a number of changes to specific local authority licensing functions. The changes proposed to alcohol licensing under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 include:
- criminalising the supply of alcohol to children and young people
- introducing a “fit and proper” test for licence applicants
- redefining “overprovision”
The Bill also proposes changes to some forms of licensing under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act. In relation to taxi and private hire car licensing, its provisions would harmonise, to a degree, the licensing regimes applying to these forms of transport by allowing licensing authorities to limit the number of private hire car licences and require testing of private hire car drivers. It proposes to remove the exemption from licensing for cars hired for 24 hours or more.
The Bill also contains provisions to tighten the regulation of scrap metal dealers to tackle metal theft. The key proposals are to ban cash payments for scrap metal and to remove the exemption from licensing currently enjoyed by businesses with a turnover exceeding £1 million.
In addition, the Bill would introduce a new licensing regime for sexual entertainment venues, based on the current framework applying to sex shops under the 1982 Act.
Read SPICe briefing:
Published: 12 November 2014