Hospitality Management Law for Licensed Premises Assignment

Programme	Diploma in Hospitality
Unit Number and Title	Hospitality Management Law for Licensed Premises Assignment
QFC Level	Level 5

Introduction

The subject matter of law for the operational activities in the licensed premises was formed to offer protection to the property of the individuals. When a residence, shop or an enclosed place is offered a license to pursue commercial activities by the licensing authorities it becomes a licensed premises. Such acts of licensing helps curb the degree of public nuisance and crime that these properties are often subjected to in their day-to-day operations. This hospitality management law licensed premises assignment would entail various aspects of law that covers the licensed premises in the hospitality sector and would therefore include in its course the topics of licensing applications, the management of the premises, the implications of lawful conduct, the significance of compliance with legislations, assessment of the risk and the liability of the licensed premises towards the protection of the patrons.

The report has considered The Mayflower Pub of Rotherhithe village in London as the case study organisation to conduct the study in the backdrop of a real life setting. The Mayflower Pub is the oldest Pub by the Thames and has the old world charm in its traditional ambience. The premises house a bar and a restaurant and cater to young and the old by providing delectable European fusion cuisines and an array of cheese, beers and carefully selected wines.

Task 1

1.1 Kinds of Licensed Premises

The premises which could be in the form of a restaurant, building, shops or any other enclosed space, that has been conferred the right to pursue their respective business related activities by the licensing authorities and has been offered a license to that effect is referred to as the licensed premises. The legal regulations of England and Wales states that the practice of licensing fulfils the objective of offering protection to the properties of individuals. The law covers both intangible as well as the tangible form of properties. The operation of such premises is guided by the authorities that regulate the process of offering licenses to such properties. The government of UK provides different kind of licenses to individuals and organisations to grant them permission for the conduct of the entertainment related activities, supply and sale of alcohol and provisions of refreshments past midnight (Newton and Hirschfield, 2009). The broad categorization of the licensed premises has been given underneath:

• Premise License: this kind of license covers the activities of supply and sale of alcohol and hence its implementation is restricted to entities whose sole objective is supply and selling of alcohol. In case the entity has the capacity of serving alcohol to not more than sixty guests then a license for a small bar can be applied by the entity.
• Personal License: this kind of license is portable in nature and can extend up to a period of 10 years. This license permits the individual to trade in alcohol within the licensed premises authorised to sell alcohol. The provision of this kind of license is done on the basis of the type of activity that falls under the purview of the conditions that is applicable within the licensed premises (Bunn and Guthrie, 2010). This license is specific to the type of activity that would be permitted by the license.
• Club Premise License: this kind of license is sought by the organisations to attain the objective of making entertainment provisions for the patrons. The entertainment activities that can be termed as licensable activities under the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 includes performance of plays, film shows, dance performances, indoor sporting events, music concerts etc.
• Standard and Late Temporary Event Notice: these kind of notices are served so that the organisations are given permissions for the conduct of licensable activities either within the premises or a designated open space, that includes provisions of refreshments from 11pm -5am, entertainment activities such as sporting events, live music concerts, film shows, dance performances and plays, and sale and supply of alcohol to the patrons ( Lockwood., 2011). The notices for temporary events that are standard in nature are served 10 days prior to the event while the late notices serve the purpose of the organisers of the event with less time of 5-9 days.

1.2 Contrast between Premise and personal license

The differences between the Premises License and Personal License are given underneath in the form of the following table:

Premises License	Personal License
1) It authorises an individual to sell alcohol within a licensed premises.	1) It allows organisational entities to conduct activities that are a part of licensable activities inclusive of the sale of alcohol within the specified premises (Hubbard and Colosi, 2013).
2) The time period of the license is till the end of business.	2) The time period is 10 years.
3) The license is non-renewable with a payment of fees.	3) It has to be renewed with the payment of the prescribed fee.
4) The license is portable in nature	4) The license is issued in accordance to the type of activity it would undertake.
5) This license has no restrictions of age, qualification or training in the application procedure (Graham et al., 2014).	5) This license is issued only to individuals who are 18years ort more and is appropriately qualified and trained in the specified activities.
6) The right to conduct a specific act can be shared.	6) The right to conduct acts rests with a particular person only and hence non-transferable in nature.

1.3 Comparison of License Application procedures

In the course of putting forward an application for either a Personal License or a Premises License it is mandatory that the individual must follow an appropriate procedure. In case of an application for the Personal License, the specific individual must fill in his personal details in the application form and submit the same to the licensing authorities. Along with the basic information about the individual like the name, address, age etc, the form would also cover the aspects of the spot or place as well as the purpose for the alcohol sale. The individual thereafter must also submit a form containing details of any kind of criminal activity that he has been a part of or any kind of convictions that he had been subjected to under the existing criminal law in the preceding five years and this has to be done to Disclosure Scotland (Liang and Chikritzhs, 2011). The submission of these forms would be followed by relevant certificates of qualification, professional training certificates, age proof, photographs rightfully endorsed and a payment of the prescribed fee required for the licensing process.

The organisations such as restaurants, night clubs, pubs, bars, clubs etc are provided the Premises License in accordance to their respective activity that they plan to undertake. The application stages include the submission of the application form that would contain the basic information about the location and nature of business activities within the premises along with the activity plan that the premises plans to conduct within the purview of the licensed premises. The form would also include the information regarding the time and place of supply as well as the sale of alcohol within the premises. This form would be followed by a declaration in the form of consent from the supervisor of the premises. The submission must be accompanied with the payment of the prescribed fee calculated on the basis of bands with regard to the specific property’s DRV (Domestic Rateable Valuation).

1.4 Guidelines for the staffs on conduct of licensed premises

The Licensing Act 2003 provides the guidelines for the conduct codes within the licensed premises. It becomes mandatory for the members of staffs who are employed in the premises to act in compliance with these guidelines. The guidelines that need to be followed by the staffs within the licensed premises of The Mayflower Pub have been enumerated below:

• It is most crucial that the licensed premises of The Mayflower Pub makes it compulsory that the staffs are provided appropriate training and qualification that can help them in the utilisation of the license awarded to the specified premises. This would entail each of the staff members to undergo a training period of three months which would start from the date of being provided with the license (Costello et al., 2011).
• The attainment of the license for the premise must be followed by the guarantee from the designated supervisor of the Pub that the members of the staff who has been appointed at the premises has the qualification and the required eligibility for supplying as well as sale of alcohol. Therefore the Pub should take care of its recruitment process and ensure that the appointed staff members have successfully qualified in the national accreditation training programmes meant for this specific purpose.
• The Mayflower Pub must take into consideration the fact that the staff members who have been appointed for selling alcohol within the licensed premises are of 18 years and above and are responsible enough not to resort to any kind of alcohol consumption during the duty hours ( Warpenius et al., 2010).
• It is vital that the Pub takes utmost care to render the work space within the licensed premises safe and healthy for the conduct of the daily activities and therefore as a precautionary measure must not keep the hazardous devices within easy access and should always keep the equipments away from children and under the eyes of supervisors.
• The staff members of the licensed premises of The Mayflower Pub must not under any circumstances divulge the member, guests or customer details or information for any kind of commercial or unethical use or for reaping any kind of unfair monetary or non-financial benefits ( Spence et al., 2009).

Task 2

2.1 Consequences of misleading information to customers

The consumers are not to be provided with any kind of misleading information by the licensed premises since such acts are subject to sever consequences in accordance with the consumer protection law as a measure of prevention to curb down the practice of trading in an unfair manner. The gravity and the cause of such acts are evaluated on the basis of situations in which the act has been committed. The law of consumer protection considers all kinds of omissions and actions on the part of The Mayflower Pub which could influence the customers to commit unlawful actions and the ones that fall under the purview of banned practices. In case the Pub is found guilty of such actions they would be legally liable for the consequences thereof and the aggrieved customers would have the right to bring a remedial law suit against the organisation, claiming for adequate compensation. Any kind of deceptive advertisements for promotional purposes by the Pub or resorting to any other means of communication to lure the attention of the customers that is in violation of the law and order can attract penalty in the form of payment of fees worth $ 16,000 per day by the organisation ( Hawkins et al., 2009). The Pub may also get subjected to civil penalties worth millions on the basis of the degree and extent of violation of the norms. In case of any kind of financial loss that the customer suffers, The Mayflower Pub must pay for the damages and would also be required to pay the penalty amount as specified by the regulatory authority for the commitment of such an act.

2.2 Liabilities of the employer for consumer protection

It is obligatory for the owners of The Mayflower Pub to ensure that the duties performed by its staffs must be directed towards prevention of any kind of risk to the customers and hence are in strict compliance with the law of consumer protection. It is most important for the Pub owner to make necessary and requisite provisions for the protection of its customers. It is to that effect that the licensed premises of The Mayflower Pub must ensure a fair price and a fair quality of the services and goods that are in supply and sale within the premises. In case they impose exorbitant charges in respect of the quality of services and goods that are being served, irrespective of the act being deliberate or negligent in nature would hold the employer liable on the grounds of misconduct towards the customers (Burgess and Moffatt, 2011). It is mandatory for the owners of the Pub that they furnish appropriate information about the statutory warnings, ingredients and quantity that is being served to the customers within the purview of the Consumers Protection Act.

The licensed premises of The Mayflower Pub must ensure that proper policies are being implemented for protecting the customer’s interest. It becomes obligatory for the organisation as the customer accepts their products that are being produced by other enterprises. Therefore the Pub must be careful during the course of acquiring services and goods from other entities and should ideally inspect it thoroughly so that any kind of risk that could result in an injury to the customers can be eliminated. Under the Data Protection Act, the Pub would be required to keep the customers detail private and confidential and not disclose it for any kind of monetary gain or benefit or otherwise. The Consumer Protection Act also makes it mandatory for the licensed premises such as that of The Mayflower Pub to provide a hygienic and safe ambience keeping a watchful eye on the errant actions of the staffs that could be harmful for the customers ( Hadfeild., 2009). In case of failures, the Pub would be held vicariously liable and would be subjected to the payment of damages resulting from any such injuries to the customer. The directives of the European Union imposes penal obligation on the Pub owner in case of being held responsible for any kind of misconduct within the licensed premises.

2.3 Policy for implementation of legislation of weights and measures

The law for Licensed Premises has introduced various kinds of policies which ensure that the legislation of different aspects of measures and weights are implemented within the licensed premises. These policies contain clauses that come under the purview of HM Revenue and Customs and Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations Act, 2006, which has laid provisions in regard to the supply of the right amount of liquor to the patrons which may not cause health related damages (Forsyth and Lennox, 2010). The Mayflower Pub must ensure that the proper amount of rates on the sale and production of various kinds of alcoholic products is duly paid within the licensed premises in compliance with the HM Customs and Excise.

The quality standard of the packaged goods and other beverages within the Pub is controlled by the establishment of these kinds of regulations. These regulations provide information about the short measure protection and quantity to the patrons. The justification of this policy lies in the fact of its providing appropriate product information to the patrons. It is through this policy that the customers visiting the Pub get to know whether the contents mentioned on the package and the original good are in proper match with each other. The patrons at The Mayflower Pub are assured of the quantity and quality of all kinds of beverages and also the right price through the implementation of this policy within the premises. The legal authorities keep a check by comparing the package quantity with the quantity as given in the legislation and document the sale and supply of the alcohol and beverages within the Pub and any inappropriateness in the conduct is controlled within the purview of the legal norms (Palk et al., 2010).

Task 3

3.1 Discuss the key components of a range of regulations

For hospitality premises which has official license to operate will have to be very particular about the different range of regulations. The Mayflower which is one of the leading riverside pubs in London has operated in the area for a long time and is loved by most of the people around here in London. It is one of the oldest pubs operating in the riverside London. The organisation is almost 400 years old and hence it is very particular about the different range of regulations that it has to follow to safeguard the health and safety of the employees as well as the different consumers that come in. As a hospitality company the organisation has to make sure it is able to provide the best possible health and safety to the consumers and its employees so that the employees are in a contented state of mind as well as the consumers are willing to the use the services as they are rest assured about the health and safety (Beckingham, 2012).

The first regulation which the organisation has followed is The Management of health and safety at Work regulations 1999 is one of the major regulations that have been effective for the organisation as the employer in this regulation is advised to undertake proper risk assessment for its employees and act upon them quickly in order to effectively develop the possibility of having fatal risks. It also states to work according to the sketched health and safety policy, appointing a competent employee to oversee health and safety within the organisation. The workplace Regulations Act 1992 mainly focuses on the organisation to have adequate lighting and heating for the employees and to ensure they are kept in a clean environment. Especially for a hospitality company having the entire operational area clean is not everything but it will have to also keep its kitchen and technical area clean so that the employees could work in a clean environment and don’t have to suffer physically and mentally working in the pub. This workplace act also makes sure that the employees and the consumers have safe passageways, and are prevented from slipping and tripping, the staffs are provided with basic hygiene including clean toilets and proper ventilation. The Health and Safety Regulations 1992 helps to safeguard the employees who are working with display screen equipments are given proper security by continuous identification of risk with the DSE which will help to pick out risks if any and accordingly address them so that the employees could work in a safe environment (Martineau ET AL., 2013).

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 mainly advises the employers to avoid the need of handling equipments and other fixed objects manually which might pose a serious threat to the physical health of the employees; this act also focuses on providing the information about the weight of the load taken to be shifted. Another key regulation that The Mayflower Pub has undertaken is The Reporting of Injuries, Disease and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995. Under this act the employers are advised to report a wide range of different fatal incidents, injuries and diseases to the health and social care executives which helps to make amendments accordingly. These key regulations are highly effective for the organisation to be able to have a safe and healthy environment for the employees to work successfully. Especially for a hospitality company as a licensed premise it is essential to implement the above discussed regulations in order to act as per the rules and legislations effectively in order to make sure the employees are provided safe and healthy environment to work in (Stockwell & Chikritzhs, 2009).

3.2 Discuss the duties and responsibilities associated with the management of licensed premises

The management of licensed premises like The Mayflower has a huge role to play in order to handle the operations of the licensed premises. It is extremely important to mention that for a manager of licensed premises. For a licensed hospitality premises it is important to have a certified manager to handle the operation of the pub. At Mayflower the manager is always there while it is selling alcohol since it is mandatory for the managers to be available while the organisation sells alcohol to consumers.  The manager at the Mayflower is responsible to comply with the standards of the hospitality industry. The management of the licensed premises is also responsible to comply with the conditions of the license and provisions of the sales and supply of Alcohol Act 2012 which mainly focuses on ensuring safe and secured sales and supply of alcohol and also reducing the threats related to alcohol.  The Licensing Act 2003 focuses on four statutory actions which are:

• The prevention and reduction of crime and disorder
• Public safety
• The prevention of nuisance
• The protection of children from any kind of harm.

The management of a licensed premises especially pubs like The Mayflower should focus on ensuring these statutory actions are taken properly within the organisation in order to make the pub more publicly safe and secured. Risk associated with the licensed premises could be diverse and the role and responsibilities of the management is to focus in maneuvering the risks and run the operation of the licensed premise effectively. The most important role and responsibility of the management of the licensed premises is to ensure health and safety of the employees and the consumers (Rowe et al., 2010).

As a manager of the Pub it is important to constantly communicate with the consumers and the employees in order to focus on providing high standard of services which is counted as one of the most important role of the management of the licensed premises.  The management of the licensed premises like the Mayflower in London has the duty to focus on getting the best possible employees on board and provide them with suitable training program which will help to improve the overall service provision of the public house.  Monitoring profitability and performance is also another important job of the management and keeping a track of it and change the strategies of performance is extremely important. Maintaining favorable bonding with the police, the liquor licensing authority and the consumers is also a key job of the management for the Mayflower and for other licensed premises. In order to improve the overall service quality of the licensed premise it is important that the manager rather to say the entire management should communicate well with the employees to motivate them and encourage them to work effectively for the organisation. Overall it could be said that the main role of the management is to ensure that the employees and the consumers are provided with a safe environment to for work and for enjoyment (Davis et al, 2013).

3.3 Carry out a detailed risk assessment for one type of licensed premises

Having a proper risk assessment is extremely important for licensed premises like the Mayflower Pub. Carrying out a detailed risk assessment will make sure that the organisation is able to understand the potentiality of the risks and is also able to make suitable decisions for the organisation to avert any kind of risky situation. Risk assessment procedure is an extremely important procedure for every organisation especially for licensed premises like the Mayflower Pub. Hence it is important to make sure that the organisation emphasises on doing a thorough risk assessment which would help to identify and eliminate risks effectively. The risk assessment is done with the help of five major steps that identifies risk and takes positive steps to eliminate them as well. The five key steps of risk assessment which the Mayflower Pub in London could use to have a detailed risk assessment are given below:

Step 1: Identifying hazards that may cause any harm
As an employer the Mayflower has the role of assessing the possible risks which their employees face at work. To understand the potential of hazards the management of the licensed premises have logged on to the health and social care executive websites and went on to see the key aspects which fall into the category of risks for the small and medium scale businesses. The management has to assess the overall infrastructure for instance the fire safety and risks, gas safety, replacement of carpet, pressurised equipments by walking around the pub to note key things which might have real effect on the employees of the pub. The management also has the responsibility of communicating with the employees to understand the possible risk factors within the operations and jotting it down accordingly to take effective steps later. Identifying risks also involves talking to the staffs like the cleaners and electricians and the suppliers who normally handle crucial sections within the organisation to understand the risks that may be caused from any area of thee organisation. Knowledge on the previous incidents is also important to understand a possibility of any further incidents is there or not. Overall the management is responsible to assess any kind of physical, biological, chemical and mental risks (Martin et al., 2013).

Step 2: Who may be harmed and how
In this section the employer must be efficient enough to understand who could be harmed by the risk coming in. The risk is mainly related to the part time and full time employees of the organisation and hence it is important for the employer to ensure that evaluation of the risk is properly done and effectively communicated to the employees working in the pub. The threat of risk not only remains for the employees but it also remains for the visitors like the consumers as well as the suppliers coming in occasionally.  The employer of the Pub should review the work routines of the employees which will help to understand how risk could hurt employees and it should be accordingly handled. The personal safety of the employees and the consumers should be kept in mind and accordingly they should be informed (Moffatt et al., 2009).

Step 3: Assess the risk and take actions
For each hazard the manager or the employer of the organisation is responsible to jot down controls and safety process. If there is any kind of risk there should also be controls. For instance if there is a problems with the electric wire or a short circuit it could be fixed by changing the entire wire and putting new RCCBs and MCBs in Place to reduce the risk of electric shocks which would help to ensure that no employee or consumers coming for fun face any kind of risks. Once the manager writes all the different controls he or she should compare them with the given information about it in the HSE website.

Step 4: Make a record of the findings
Making a record of the findings once suitable decision has been taken in extremely important for future references. This will help to make decisions in the coming years and improve the handling of the risk assessment in the coming time at the Mayflower Pub. This record will show that there has been assessment of a risk and it has been handled effectively (Hadfield et al., 2009).

Step 5: Review the risk assessment
The review of the risk assessment will be done in the staff meeting session where the manager of the licensed premises will indicate the needful for the health and safety of the employees as well as for the organisation and will ensure that all the key aspects fall into place which will make sure that these risks do not repeat themselves as it could affect the overall operation of the pub.

3.4 Evaluate the impact of food safety and hygiene legislation

The food safety and hygiene regulation is an extremely important legislation that needs to be followed by each and every hospitality organisation and licensed premises like the Mayflower Pub in London. It is important to mention that the Food Safety Act 1990 provides the framework for food safety and hygiene and is controlled by the FSA or Food Standards Agency which works with the local authorities to ensure that food safety and hygiene is kept as per the standards of the food safety act. With the start of the use of the food safety regulations the risk with food processing and preparation has reduced to a large extent as almost all the licensed premises tend to follow the regulations and guidelines effectively (Jones et al., 2011). On the other hand the Food Standards Act 1999 received the royal assent which has helped the FSA to operate freely across the food and beverage industry to develop the handling of food products as well beverages in a standardised way so that no one is harmed after having food and beverage products. It also lays down certain process to handle food first and foremost being the use of gloves while handling food has helped to reduce mishandling of food to a large extent.  The main focus of FSA is protecting public health and this has largely helped to keep food quality and hygiene intact that has ensured public health. Overall it could be said that food hygiene and safety control legislations have helped to ensure public health and helped the pubs rather to say the licensed premises to work well (Jones & Robinson, 2012.

Task 4

4.1 Justify the responsibilities of employer in the employment of staff

The responsibility of employer in employment of staff is extremely important. The employer will focus on developing its workforce and improve the capability of the operations.  The employment of staff is a crucial work in the operations and hence it is important for the employer to take special interest in employment of staffs. The employer should do a little bit of research in hiring of employees effectively. The employer is responsible in choosing and assessing the capacity of the talents for the effective employment if staffs. Overall it could be said that the employer is the main entity involved in the employment of staffs (Hughes et al., 2009).

4.2 Discuss the key aspects of discrimination legislation

Discrimination is one of the major issues that most of workplaces face nowadays. It is essential for licensed premises to have discrimination legislation in practice so that it is able to ensure and eliminate any kind of discrimination. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 is one of the major legislations that help to eradicate discrimination from the organisation. The sex discrimination act helps the licensed premises to have an equal environment and no discrimination takes place at least in terms of sex and gender. The equality Act 2010 also ensures that the licensed premises is a fine place to work for where there is no discrimination in terms sex, religion, caste, creed or race and everything is in its proper place. Overall it could be said that both the legislations have helped to have a strong hold over discrimination and ensure any kind of discrimination is eliminated (Brown et al., 2013).
 

Conclusion

The present study has discussed all the key aspects of licensed premises handling. It has helped to discuss the operational aspects and legal aspects which have helped to cover up the objectives of the study and have helped to complete the study successfully.

References

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