To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2017.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bowes, L Monument and Askew.

To note whether the Chairman proposes to accept any item as urgent business, pursuant to Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

None.

The duties to register, disclose and not to participate for the entire consideration of the matter, in respect of any matter in which a Member has a disclosable pecuniary interest are set out in Chapter 7 of the Localism Act 2011.  Members are also required to withdraw from the meeting room as stated in the Standing Orders of this Council.

None.

To note the names of any non-members who wish to address the meeting.

None.

Verbal report by Vicky Conlon.

The Chairman introduced Vicky Conlon, a Lead Officer from Norfolk Trading Standards (NTS) who was in attendance to provide Members with a detailed overview of the functions that the NTS team covered.

Trading Standards was a Local Government service that worked to protect consumers and support legitimate business.  It covered a number of functions but under the Licensing functions it had a statutory obligation to:

·         combat illegal trading of alcohol and tobacco products

·         monitor product safety

·         address under-age sales

·         food standards, labelling etc

·         animal health and feed

·         scams

Norfolk Trading Standards also operated Trusted Trader Schemes.

The daily work of a Trading Standards Officer (TSO) involved responding to and investigating consumer complaints and conducting routine inspection of businesses for compliance with legislation. If it was found that an offence had been committed, particularly if it was a repeat offender, this could lead to a criminal prosecution.

TSOs had various powers granted to them under the legislation that they enforced. These included the ability to enter and inspect premises, examine goods and conduct test purchases. In particular circumstances they may also enter a premise’s under warrant and seize goods and documents as evidence.

The main area discussed was in relation to illegal tobacco products of which there were three types, products made for selling on the illegal market, counterfeit versions of popular brands and products smuggled from other countries. 

Illegal tobacco products were always hidden from view and pictures and a short video was shown of the inventive types of apparatus used to conceal this merchandise.  ‘Tobacco’ dogs successfully found many of these hideaways.

The difference between genuine tobacco products and illegal tobacco products was highlighted.

The Chairman asked how much revenue was being lost from the sale of these illegal products.  Members were informed that it had halved in the last decade.  The main problem was under-age sales. Tobacco products were being sold to children from shops, car boot sales and on-line and there was no control as to what the counterfeit versions contained – this was a major health risk.  Test reports were shown of illegal cigarettes which did not self-extinguish unlike legitimate products that contained such safety measures.

NTS was intelligence lead and was always acted upon - many complaints stemmed from proprietors of established businesses and from parents.

An illegal tobacco event had been held in 2016 and a picture was shown of the amount of products found in one week by NTS.  Premises/people selling these products made a great deal of money that obviously was undeclared.

Licence reviews were treated very seriously and two shops had already had already been reviewed this year, one of which was under Appeal.

In response to a question in relation to whether TSO’s could search elsewhere if the products were kept elsewhere such as in a private dwelling, Members were informed that a warrant would have to be applied for if it was a residential property or a vehicle.

The Chairman asked if written warnings could be given for certain  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Verbal report by Tiffany Bentley, Licensing Officer.

The Licensing Officer asked Members for their feedback on the recent Panel meeting held on 10 March 2017.

The Chairman felt that it had gone very well. The premises had been closed for a while whilst being refurbished and the extension, to incorporate what was the outside drinking/smoking area, would alleviate any noise issues. The Panel had asked the Licence Holder to review the new extension in the summer months to ensure that it would not get too hot for customers and look at the possibility of installing air conditioning

There was nothing else to report.

General discussion.

Members had thoroughly enjoyed the recent training session held at Elizabeth House and another date had been set for mock hearings to take place in September 2017.

The Chairman asked Members to contact the Democratic Services Officer if they had any other training needs which could then be added to the agenda for discussion.