Stop this ludicrous paper chase
One of the main criticisms levelled at the new licensing system is how time-consuming and wasteful it is, particularly of paper.
There have now been a number of useful suggestions to cut down on this profligate misuse of trees.
The duplication of effort needed for even the simplest of applications has caused concern everywhere, and now even the Better Regulation Commission has commented on it.
When the whole process started, I noted how much unnecessary form-filling there was. Even the so-called "summary" of the licence can be as long as the licence itself. What other country expects you to post up three or four sheets of A4 just to prove that you are allowed to sell alcohol?
The length of forms, and their complexity, runs through the whole process. It is a clear policy - the applicant has to prove everything in writing, produce yards of paper evidence from various sources, bundle these together and send copies to up to eight other organisations, many of whom inhabit the same building. In the majority of cases, at least two or three of these bodies will have no interest in the application at all.
In other examples, only one of the sheets will be relevant.
The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is said to be reviewing the workings of the Act, in the light of two critical reports and a clear indication from many sources that they did not get it right first time.
Proposals have been made on a number of the burdensome effects of the legislation, but this prime candidate for improvement - waste of paper - should be uppermost in their minds.
Praise, then, for the handful of local authorities I am aware of that have taken the extremely positive step of asking for one copy of the application and then distributing the relevant parts themselves to the "responsible authorities". This has resulted in a much more efficient processing of the application, with those agencies that have no input merely being allowed to say so, and those with representations coming to the fore.
I note with interest that this is the proposed system for Scotland in the future. They looked at the paper chase down south and decided there was a better way to do things.
The DCMS should look at all the applications and ask why so much duplication and additional pages are required.
There has to be a simpler way to run a licensing system.
