Chamber and committees

There are currently 43 licensing boards. These cover the same areas as their respective local authority except for:

Aberdeenshire, where the area is served by three licensing boards covering North; Central, and South Aberdeenshire.

Dumfries and Galloway, where the area is served by four licensing boards covering Annandale and Eskdale; Nithsdale; Stewartry, and Wigtown.

Highland, where the area is served by four licensing boards covering Ross, Skye and Lochaber; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, and Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

Scottish Borders, where the area is served by two licensing boards covering West and East. Scottish Borders is currently in the process of disestablishing these boards and constituting a single Scottish Borders Licensing Board.

South Lanarkshire, where the area is served by three licensing boards covering Clydesdale; East Kilbride; Hamilton, and Cambuslang and Rutherglen.

In line with the implementation timetable set by the previous administration, the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 does not come fully into force until 1 September 2009. It is therefore too early to assess its impact in a comprehensive way, but it is clear that there are some matters where further action and adjustment may be required through licensing legislation to help rebalance Scotland''s relationship with alcohol.

The National Licensing Forum was abolished by the previous administration. At a meeting with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and Alcohol Focus Scotland on 12 June, I made clear that the Scottish Government would welcome the sharing of good practice between licensing boards and would further welcome any effort by COSLA to establish an appropriate mechanism for doing that.

Section 10 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 requires local authorities to establish one or more local licensing forums for their area. Information about the number of times each forum has met is not held centrally.

The appointment, training and support for Licensing Standards Officers is a matter for local authorities as set out in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. Regulations made by the previous administration set out the training requirements for Licensing Standards Officers.

This information is not held centrally. In line with the previous administration''s timetable for implementing the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, licensing standards officers are to be appointed by 1 September 2009.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including the need to reduce alcohol misuse and associated harm.

The requirement for licensing standards officers to be trained is set out in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 and the detail of that training is set out in regulations made by the previous administration. Training providers are delivering training in line with these regulations. The Scottish Government therefore has no current role in respect of training for licensing standards officers.

Local licensing forums are established by local authorities under section 10 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. The act does not empower ministers to assess the forums, and no such assessment has been made.

In line with the implementation timetable set by the previous administration,  section 15 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 does not come into force until  1 September 2009.