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Door staff requirement
Q Under "mandatory conditions" on our licence, it states that any door staff must be Security Industry Authority (SIA) licensed. What is the position on the few occasions when we have ticket events and we put someone on the door to check tickets and access rights?
A There is a tendency of some licensing authorities to throw in a standard set of mandatory conditions when they really are not required. The actual wording of the Act in this regard is important. It states that where a premises licence includes a condition that security door staff must be at the premises during certain times, then there must also be a condition on the licence that they are SIA licensed.
This does not mean that all licences must include this condition: only those which stipulate such a requirement.
However, several licences contain conditions beginning "where" or "if", as a sort of catch-all condition. This is not really correct but is now widespread.
What it does not mean is that you are required to have licensed door staff for these events. If they are only checking admission, then the activity is exempt under the provisions of Schedule 1 to the Private Security Industry Act 2001. It is only if they are undertaking further security activities prescribed in the legislation that licensed staff will be required.
Posting up a TEN
Q Someone from the local police said that if we ran a temporary event at the pub I would be obliged to post up the notice in the bar for everyone to see. It has a number of personal details on the form. Is this a legal requirement?
A No, although I have heard several examples of this being stated. It is a clear invasion of privacy and should be avoided because of the details contained.
There is a standard form, issued by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, which is being used by most local authorities. This is to provide a way of checking the identity of not just those in the licensed trade, but members of the public who are also allowed to apply.
The Licensing Act 2003 gives alternatives. You can either post up the acknowledged notice itself, if you are happy to do so, or you can keep the notice in a safe place if you are running the event personally.
If someone else is in charge of the premises during the event, then you still do not need to post the actual temporary event notice, but you must put up a notice saying who has it. This is so that if there is a query over the event, a police officer or licensing officer knows who to ask for the document.
Paying a record fee
Q We used to have a licence from a company called Phonographic Performance at our previous place, but we do not have it here. Is this because we do not play any records as such? We just have radio and TV, but we do have a background music system.
A The reason that I tend to mention the Performing Right Society more is that they are able to claim a licence fee from the vast majority of licensed premises. Phonographic Performance does a similar job, but in respect of copyright recordings, not the actual music.
The absence has nothing to do with the demise of vinyl! CDs and other media will also be caught by copyright restrictions. So any pub playing recorded music will be liable to assessment and will need to pay an annual fee.
