The Institute of Licensing is delighted to announce the re-establishment of the  National Licensing Forum on 24^th November 2011.

The original forum played a valuable role in informing licensing policy development, implementation and compliance for much of the 1990s and the first half of the last decade.  Since the Licensing Act 2003 went live in November 2005 however, the forum had fallen into disuse. 

Given the on-going importance of licensing and the high profile nature of related problems, the Institute of Licensing initiated the re-establishment of the forum with the intention of once again providing the opportunity for discussion between representative groups in relation to licensing issues. 

We believe the forum has an essential role to play in:

• informing the implementation of many aspects of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011;
• acting as a sounding board for Government as further aspects of licensing reform are considered; 
• allowing all to share best practice with regards to policy implementation; and
• giving industry an opportunity to work in partnership with regulators to improve both compliance and regulation.

The Institute is delighted to both chair and provide the secretariat for the NLF.  The NLF effortlessly fits within our aim - to advance the development, evaluation and recognition of licensing in the public and private sectors.

The purpose of the initial meeting was to agree the terms of reference for the re-established NLF and identify the appropriate membership of the group.  The organisations involved in the original forum were invited to attend in the first instance including:

• Association of Chief Police Officers
• Association of Convenience Stores
• Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers
• Association of Town Centre Managers
• Bar, Entertainment and Dance Association
• BII
• British Retail Consortium
• Department of Culture, Media and Sport
• Home Office
• Local Government Association

The National Association of Licensing and Enforcement Officers were also in attendance and will form part of the NLF.

Institute Executive Officer, Sue Nelson said:

"I am delighted that the National Licensing Forum has been re-established.  The previous forum was a valuable means of discussion for relevant licensing issues and forthcoming legislation both strategically and in terms of what is happening on the ground, and given the constantly changing face of licensing legislation, there is no doubt that the NLF can perform that role again.

The Institute is ideally placed to chair the forum given it’s objectives to promote mutual understanding between licensing practitioners and its broad church membership encompassing licensing practitioners from public and private sectors including the regulators and regulated.”

It is intended that the NLF will look to meet twice yearly, but will also have regard to calendar events which may give rise to licensing issues (for example, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics etc). 

Any queries in relation to the NLF should be directed to Sue Nelson (email: sue@instituteoflicensing.org).