Unit 23 Law for Licensed Premises Sample Solution

Program	Diploma in Hospitality Management
Unit Number and Title	Unit 23 Law for Licensed Premises
QFC Level	Level 5

Introduction

This law for licensed premises sample solution report is formed to describe the laws related to licensing, consumer protection, employee protection and health and safety legislation in UK. It discusses the risks related to the licensing activities as well as the roles and responsibilities of the employees and employer regarding the safety measures that may reduce the risks. The unit discusses about the measurement and the weights that have been decided by the government to serve the alcoholic drinks. It also focuses on the responsibilities that are related to the management of the license premises. The licensing laws have also been discussed in the unit to educate the learners about the negative impacts of breaching such laws.

Task 1

1.1 Discuss the different types of licensed premises.

A license is defined as the agreement between the parties (licensor and licensee). Licensor is the authoritative party that issue license for the another party called licensee. License has been issued for the activities that are normally forbidden and cannot be conducted without permission of any of the relevant party. License has been categorized into four types:

• Premises license
• Personal license:
• Gaming license
• Music Copyright

Premises license is the license that has been issues in order to use premises for the licensable activities such as sale of alcohol, entertainment provision etc. premises consists of the open areas, vehicles, movable structures etc. this type of license can be issued for managing houses, tenancies, restaurants, bars, clubs, events etc. (Gov.uk, 2016)
Issuing of premises license aims at preventing the crime and safeguard the people from frauds. The major concern of the government in issuing license for any of the activity is public safety. The parties that want to apply for the license have to assure the authoritative party that they will not perform any harmful activity with their plans. If they fail to do so, they will not get the license. (cityoflondon.gov.uk, 2016)
As far as the government guidelines in concerned, alcohol sale and supply are the licensable activities and about the activities need the license for their conduction. In England and Wales, parities who want to perform such activities have to apply for the license for the government. Local authority permission is must for conduction of thee activities at the premises. Following premises can apply for the license for sale and supply of alcohol:

• Hotels
• Supermarkets
• Events
• Pubs and bars
• Theatres
• Clubs (members, proprietary, night)
• Outside catering
• Village and community halls

Clubs does not need the premises licensing as they operate with the certification of the club premises. This suggests that clubs can operate without the designated premises supervisors and can make the sale of the alcohol without the authorization by the personal license holder.
Other than clubs, all the premises need to have a Designated Premises Supervisors to supervise the premises activities along with the sale of alcohol. DPS requires the permission from the local authority. This permission is in the form of the personal license that is given by the local authority where the premises are located. The DPS is the person who is to be contacted by the license authority, if there is any issue raised regarding the license policy violation. (Nortonrosefulbright.com, 2016)
DPS may or may not be the license holder of the premises. It is necessary to take the written consent of the DPS in case the license has been applied by another person of premises. The DPS consent should be there with the application of the license for the premises.

1.2: Discuss the differences between a personal license and a premises license.

Following are some of the differences between the personal and the premises license:

Premise license	Personal license
Premise license grants the permission to use the premises for any activity that needs to be permitted by any authority.	Personal license provides the permission to the person or the license holder to conduct the activity like sale or supply of alcohol at the premises that is already authorized.
A person can apply for the premise license only at the local authority where is premise is located. In cases of shared areas, that means if the premise is shared by the two local authorities than the authority having larger part of the property is responsible for giving the permission of the license.	A person can apply for the personal license at the local authority where he resides or nay of the local authority. (Gov.uk, 2016)
Premise license does not require to be renewed as there is no limited time period for it. However, the license authority has the power to suspend the license if the license holder has been found to breach the policies associated with the license. According to section 27, license can be lapsed in the cases such as death of the holder, insolvency, club ceases to be recognized etc.	A personal license generally holds the period of 10 years and need to be renewed after that. It can only be renewed at the same local authority that has issued that license. (Dayjob.com, 2016)
Applicants for the premise license have to fulfill the conditions that are linked with the license according to the activities the license has been issued for. In case of alcohol sale and supply, the premise license should be issued only to the person which ahs the authorized DSP.	Personal license can be provided to the people of age 8 and above. They also need to ensure that they have the proper knowledge of the laws and responsibilities associated with the license.
Premise license is transferable in nature.	Personal license cannot be transferred to other person.

1.3 Compare the procedures for license applications.

If a person holds the personal license, he can make the supply or sale of alcohol from the premises that are also authorized for the same. The personal license can be used for 10 years of period and needs to be renewed after that if the license holder wants to conduct the activity associated with the license further anywhere in England and Wales. There are some qualifications that need to be acquired by the person who wants to apply for the personal license. Firstly, he should be 18 years old or above. He needs to pass an accredited licensing qualification. Award for Personal License Holder is a one day course and exam that also need to be passed by the applicant. The minimum marks for passing this exam are 28 out for 40.
The first step that needs to be followed to apply for the personal license is to submit the application form in the local authority. The authority should be of the area where the applicant resides. Other formalities should also be fulfilled in the form of submission of disclosure of conviction form, passport sixe photos, APLH certificate, CRB certificated and the relevant fees. (Legislation.gov.uk, 2016)
As far as the procedure for application of premise license is considered, it also starts with the submission of the application form at the local authority where the premise is located. The conditions for the premise license is that the holder should be 18 or above in age. The applicant can be:

• The person who operates the business in the premises for which the license is applied.
• Any club
• Any health service provider
• An individual who is registered with the Care Standards Act 2000
• Anyone from the educational institute
• Any other individual who is permitted to do so

Other documents that needs to be submitted with the application form are, operating schedules that describes about the activities that needs to be licensed, time duration that includes the time of opening and closing, consent of DSP in the case of sale or supply of alcohol at the premises and the relevant fees. All these above state documents should be submitted at the relevant local authority of the area where premise is located. (cityoflondon.gov.uk, 2016) The decision made by the local authority regarding the application needs to be conveyed to the relevant party as well as to the chief of the police. (Gov.uk, 2016)

1.4: Assess guidelines on the conduct of licensed premises for use by staff.

Licensing Act 2003 includes all the guidelines and the objectives that are followed by the staff of the licensed premises. These objectives are:

• To prevent the criminal offense
• To safeguard the public
• To prevent the nuisance caused to public
• To save children from any harmful activities

The main aim behind drafting the guidelines is to provide the full information of the risk and conditions associated with the issuing if the license. These guidelines help the license holders or the one who is applying for the same to minimize those risks that are associated so that they cannot make any harm to anyone and restrict themselves to make any crime with or without any intensions. The license holders are required to follow the guidelines so that their activities do not harm any of the people around them. Risks associated with the premise license are not same for every premise license. There is a difference in the risks according to the location, type, environment, design, layout and events occurred at the premise that needs to be licensed.
Individual license premises should adopt the policies and guidelines associated with the specific business. It is necessarily important for them to assess their own risks and implement some of the resolving methods on their own.
Licensing authorities are responsible for regulating the activities of the licensed premises. The regulation and monitoring of the premises is necessary to ensure that all the objectives are met. Any deviations found needs to resolve by the license authority. The license authority guides the licensed premise to solve the issue that has been rose, which may not be appropriate according to the guidelines of the license authority.

Task 2

2.1: Assess the consequences of providing consumer with misleading information.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) are the regulatory directives that regulate the commercial activities. These regulatory directives include the description of the unfair practices or the banned practices in terms of commercial purpose.
Any of the commercial practices can be considered as unfair if it is not professionally ethical or in any way moulds or distort the behavior of the consumer in economic terms.
Regulations 5-7 of the CPRs accounts for prohibition of commercial activities that misleads the consumers. The activities can be result of omission or action that may alter the average consumer decision. Commercial groups can mislead the consumer by providing them wrong information regarding the product or services in advertisements. Misleads can be about the price, ingredients, weights, taste, strength of alcohol, contents as well as about the trade descriptions. (Businessdictionary.com, 2016)
According to Enterprise Act 2002, any business that breaches the CPR’s is subjected to action of the civil enforcement. The action can be taken by the court if it receives any application regarding nay offense by the business that founds to be valid. If any of the business breaches the enforcement order by the court, then the business owes penalty of two years or more imprisonment and an unlimited fine. (Gov.uk, 2016)
Consumers also have the right to claim for their damages that may be suffered by them. However, they have to prove that the damages caused are the result of the wrong commercial practice.

 2.2 Evaluate the extent of employer liability in the protection of consumers.

Consumer Protection Act 2208 involves the section of the Employer’s liability. This is to protect the rights of the employees. Section 2 of the Act defines those who are liable as:

• The one who has manufactured the product
• The one whose name is related with the product in any way
• The one who is responsible for the product imports
• Supplier of the product if producer or manufactured has not been identified

Section 61 of CPA suggests that supplier is liable for any damage or harm suffered by the consumer because of the product or services supplied by the same. (Cityoflondon.gov.uk, 2016)
In the case of defective products, liability is owned by both employer and employees. This happened only if the consumers can prove that the damage caused is due to the defective product. The employer and the employee is such as is subjected to a criminal offense. In such a case, employers have the responsibility to protect the customers by adopting the policy of Consumer Protection which defines the duties of the employees in order to protect the consumers from the unfair trade practices. Another practice that should be considered us the insurance policy. This is the product insurance policy that can be helpful in protecting the business in case of damage to anyone due t the product supplied to them.

2.3 Plan and justify a policy for ensuring that all aspects of weights and measures legislation are implemented

Weights and Measures Policy for all bar staff in the use of sale of drinks to comply with weights and measures legislation.
The weights and measure legislation is made to provide the guideline about the weight that needs to be served to the consumer in case of drinks.(Nortonrosefulbright.com, 2016)

1.Following drinks should be served to the consumers with the measures stated:

Draught beer and Cider:

Draught beer and Cider can be served to the consumers in the government stamped meters or the line measured glasses. It is essential to serve the drinks in pint forms such as, third of a pint, two-thirds of a pint or half pint in multiple servings.

Spirits

Gin, rum and vodka can be served to the consumers in 25ml or 35ml measurement. One of the two should be selected to be served nada los needs to be displayed to inform the consumers. It does not include the mixtures but the measure is only for the neat drinks.

Wines

The measures that are used to sell wines are 125ml or 175ml. multiple of these measures can be served. One establishment can use both the measures to serve the drinks but measuring glass stamped by government needs to be used for the servings.

Shandy and Perry:

There is not particular measured quantity for selling these drinks. However the quantity used to serve the drinks should be metric.

2.It is essential to make the customers aware about the measurement of the servings. It is also important to display the measurement. The staff of the establishments should ensure that all the customers are aware of the measurement of the servings served to them.

Important

It is very essential to regulate these practices by the DSP. It is also important to make the records so as to present the records for inspection purpose by the regulatory authorities.
If any of the employees engaged in any wrong practices that results in breaching of the policies should be subjected to internal punishment or action. Criminal action should also be brought against the employee by the regulatory authority.

Policy justification:

The Act related to weights and measures legislation suggests that nobody can sell or serve the drinks other than the approved measured quantity. The approved measured quantity is the quantity that is authorized or decided by the government. It involves the minimum serving measurement that should be offered to the customers. It needs to be displayed before serving and the staff should ensure that consumer is aware of the measurement information.

Task 3

3.1 Discuss the key components of a range of regulations

Range of legislation and European directives needs to be considered under license premises. This aims at securing and protecting the rights of the public as well as for their safety. This range f legislation considers the following Act:

The Licensing Act 2003:

This Act covers the legislations or policies related to the sale of alcohol, late night refreshments provision as well as provision of the entertainment. It is the outline that help the regulatory authorizes to regulate the license establishments as well as the process of obtaining and applying for the license. It covers the policies regarding some of the activities that can be conducted with the license permit. These activities include, music and dance, exhibitions, films, events etc. the outlets or restaurants that have their businesses into late night food deliveries also have to take license permission for the authority to conduct these activities. This is because there is a risk associated with such activities that can harm the public. These risks can involve the disturbance to the local residence at the place of delivery or from the delivery place. The businesses that are into late night delivery services from 11 to 5 a.m. needs to take this license of premise. (Legislation.gov.uk, 2016)

Consumer protection from unfair trading regulations 2008:

This regulates the activities of the information sharing of the organizations about the product with the customers. This suggests that the information that has been shared to the customers about the product should be clear and correct and should not be omitted in order to mislead the customers. The necessary material involved in information sharing is price, brand, strength, quantity, name etc.

The children and Young Persons (Protection from tobacco) Act 1991

This Act has been introduced to protect the children from the consumption of tobacco. This Act suggests that tobacco should not be sold to the consumers below the age of 18. It is also mandatory for the tobacco sellers to inform the customers by posting the notice starting that tobacco consumption is illegal for the people under 18. The sales of tobacco from vending machines are also regulated as the vending machines should be labeled with the statement about not using the machine by people below 18 years of age. (Stim, 2000)

The Health and safety at Work Act 1974

This Act is about protecting the rights of the employees as well as the consumers about their health and safety. The employer should ensure that the employees work in a safe and healthy environment and consumer’s safety can be assured by writing the safety rules and measures regarding use of product on it.

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

Duties and responsibilities associated with the management of licensed premises

Management of licensed premises refers to the duties and responsibilities of the regulatory authorities that aim at achievement the objectives stated in the Licensing Act 2003. The objectives of the management of licensing Act involves the minimization of the potential risks associated with the license as well as educating the employees or the staff about the risks and remedies used to resolve those problems and risks. For example, the companies or organisation dealing with food products needs to give the surety of being educated about the health and safety laws related to food by showing some of the recognized certificate from any authorized body of food health and safety. (Gov.uk, 2016)
License holders and the premises also have the responsibility to assess the risks associated with the license. They need to project the risks in front of the people and should also come up with the measures to minimize the risks so assessed. The measures found should be given to all the staff and the employees in written firm so that they can get aware of those risks and can make people aware of the risks as well as the measures to dissolve them.
Risk related written guidelines should be given to the employees before making them serving the customers with the alcohols. Educated and trained staff results in minimization of the risks as well as the management of the risks at employee level.
Licensed premises managers should ensure that all the laws and regulation are being followed by their businesses so as to reduce the risk and protect the consumers from being exploited. They also need to monitor the activities of the staff that may lead to any crime of criminal offense. It is their duty to prevent such activities.
Another responsibility of the manager and the staff is to safeguard the children. Activities such as serving alcohols in front of children and some of the entertainment may harm the mental state of the children. They have to asssess the risk related to children and should document the written policies regarding that.  (Wadham, Ruebain and Robinson, 2012)

3.4 Evaluate the impact of food safety and hygiene legislation.

Some of the business in UK such as production, manufacturing, retailing etc falls under the Food and Safety Legislations. They need to show and demonstrate the procedure they use to produce the food product and how these processes are in accordance with the laws and regulation given by the government. The Food and Hygiene Legislations 2006 involves some of the businesses like production, retailing, packaging, storage, labeling etc.
Food Safety and Hygiene Legislations involve the laws and rules for all the companies that cater the customers with their food products. It involves all the practices and responsibilities that need to be fulfilled by the producers and business that are into food products. Following are some of the responsibilities of the business:

• It is very essential for the businesses to ensure that hygienic process has been used to supply the food products and the products do not carry any contamination while reaching the customers that can harm them.
• They should be responsible enough to identify the hazards that are related to the food safety and should ensure that no such activities obstruct the food safety.
• Another responsibility of the businesses is to come up with the remedies to reduce the food risks.
• It is their duty to conduct proper maintenance of the machineries used
• They should educate the staff about the important of hygienic environment so that employees or staff maintains the same at the workplace.
• Employees and staff should also know about the handling process of the machineries.
   (Cityoflondon.gov.uk, 2016)

The main and most essential measure to restrict these risks is to draft the policy that involves the procedures and guidelines that needs to be followed by staff in order to maintain the healthy and hygienic environment in the production area. Proper guidelines should be written about the use of temperature, storage methods, machinery used etc so that staff can easily follow the guidelines without making any mistake.
Breaching of these laws and regulation by any of the food company results in suspension of the company license and ceasing of the process conducted by the company.

Task 4:

4.1 Justify the responsibilities of employer in the employment of staff

It is the responsibility of the employer to protect and safeguard the health if their employees during the working hours. They have the responsibility to create an environment of working that is safe ad hygienic so that employees can easily perform their task without being susceptible to any harm. The responsibilities of the employer involve assessing the risk related with the task of the employees as well as educating them about the risk and the measures to reduce them. It should be ensured by the employers that the machineries used by the staff are in good conditions and should be repaired and checked timely to prevent ant accidents.  Employers are liable for any harm occurred to the employee at the workplace because of the work processes. It is legal duty and responsibility of the employee to be liable for the damage or harm caused to the employee at the workplace and should take the relative steps in order to help the employee. (McConnell, 2013)
Some of the measures that can be used by the companies to restrict the health risk at the workplace can be the regular safety check at the workplace, election of safety representative who can regularly monitor the process and assess the risk and measures. Staff should be given with the written guidelines about how to use the machines or how to use some of the raw material that may cause any harm to them. Records should be maintained about the accidents or the incidents that can be susceptible to accidental actions. Record keeping helps the management to take prior safety actions.
The Health and Safety at Work Act HASWA (1974) is also known as the umbrella act because it encompasses a range of other health and safety regulations such as Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (PPE), Fire Regulatory Reform Order 2005 and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations (amended 2002).

4.2 Discuss the key aspects of discrimination legislation

Anti-discrimination legislation is about the laws that are framed in order to prohibit the discriminatory practices from the society and at the organizations. The main aim of this legislation is to remove the unfair practices that discriminate the people in terms of race, caste color etc. this results in more fairer  society with equality and peace. (Legislation.gov.uk, 2016)
The Equality Act 2010 is the one that replaces all the other acts that talk about any form of equality. This legislation helps the society from being discriminated at different levels. This aloe equal opportunities for all and hence bring peace in society.
The legislations that have been replaced by The Equality Act 2010 are:

• The Sex Discrimination Act (RRA) 1976 as amended, makes it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds sex or marriage
• The Race Relations Act (RRA) 1976 (as amended), makes it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of color, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• The Disability Discrimination Act DDA 1995 (as amended), makes it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of disability

Cases that are filed before 1^st October 2010 are still being covered under the relative Act and there is no consideration of The Equality Act 2010 in that. (Dayjob.com, 2016)

Key provision of the new Act:

This Act suggests the provision of ban on age discrimination. In case of providing services and public function, it is strictly ban to discriminate on the ground of age. Exemption is also being there. It is essential to give a good and satisfactory reason for the discrimination otherwise it is subjected to breaching of law.
Public sector equality duty suggests that the council bodies are not allowed to discriminate on any grounds. Policy should be made considering all the employees as well as other individuals and there should be no partiality on any basis. It is important for them to come up with the practices that provide equal opportunities to every individual. (Gov.uk, 2016)

Conclusion

Premises having license and the license holders have some of the duties and responsibilities associated with the license. They should ensure that they are fulfilling the responsibilities and are aware about the potential risks associated with the license as well. They should have appropriate knowledge about the related laws of the license they are applying for.
These laws regarding license have been formed in order to protect the people. The main aim of these laws is to prevent and prohibit the activities that can lead to serious criminal offense and harm the general public. These laws provide guidance to the businesses to run under some of the restriction of the law so that they cannot make any unlawful mistakes that may results in punishment and legal obligations against the organisation.

References

• Sherman, A. (2004). Franchising & licensing. New York: AMACOM.
• Wadham, J., Ruebain, D. and Robinson, A. (2012). Blackstone's Guide to the Equality Act 2010. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Stim, R. (2000). Getting permission. Berkeley, CA: Nolo.com.

Journals:

• McConnell, S. (2013). Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008—What Constitutes a Commercial Practice?. The Journal of Criminal Law, 77(5), pp.365-370.
• Gov.uk. (2016). Alcohol licensing - GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-licensing [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016].
• Cityoflondon.gov.uk. (2016). Alcohol, entertainment and late night refreshment - Alcohol and entertainment - City of London. [online] Available at: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business/licensing/alcohol-and-entertainment/Pages/alcohol%20and%20entertainment.aspx [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016].
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• Gov.uk. (2016). Equality Act 2010: guidance - GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/equality-act-2010-guidance [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016].
• Dayjob.com. (2016). Food hygiene regulations, Policy, course, training, legislation, rules, regulations, preparing food. [online] Available at: http://www.dayjob.com/content/food-hygiene-regulations-822.htm [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016].
• Legislation.gov.uk. (2016). Licensing Act 2003. [online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/section/111 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016].
• Cityoflondon.gov.uk. (2016). Premises licence - new application - Alcohol and entertainment - City of London. [online] Available at: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business/licensing/alcohol-and-entertainment/Pages/Premises-licence---new-application.aspx [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016].
• Gov.uk. (2016). Premises licence forms - Publications - GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/alcohol-licensing-premises-licence-application [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016].
• BusinessDictionary.com. (2016). What is license? definition and meaning. [online] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/license.html [Accessed 5 Dec. 2016].