Public health participation in alcohol licensing decisions in England: the importance of navigating “contested space”

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of Public Health in licensing following The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act of 2011, which added ‘health bodies’ as responsible authorities in licensing; in practice, Directors of Public Health undertook this role in England. Despite this legislation facilitating the inclusion of public health in partnerships around licensing, wide variations in involvement levels by public health professionals persist. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on the findings from interviews that explored the experiences of public health professionals engaging with local established partnerships around alcohol licensing. Qualitative data were collected through 21 interviews in a purposeful sample of London boroughs. These data were combined with analyses of relevant area documentation and observations of 14 licensing sub-committee meetings in one London borough over a seven-month period. Thematic analysis of all data sources was conducted to identify emerging themes. Findings This study highlighted the importance of successful navigation of the “contested space” (Hunter and Perkins, 2014) surrounding both public health practice and licensing partnerships. In some instances, contested spaces were successfully negotiated and public health departments achieved an increased level of participation within the partnership. Ultimately, improvements in engagement levels of public health teams within licensing could be achieved. Originality/value The paper explores a neglected aspect of research around partnership working and highlights the issues arising when a new partner attempts to enter an existing partnership.

How public health teams navigate their different roles in alcohol premises licensing: ExILEnS multistakeholder interview findings

“…The 'supportive' approach that some public health stakeholders discussed in our study was also explored by Somerville et al, 16 who found a split in opinion among licensing and police staff. Some felt that public health should have a supportive, more minor role compared with other responsible authorities (e.g.…”

“…32 The licensing system has been described as legitimately rejecting this academic evidence base in favour of 'native wisdom', 28 to the frustration of public health stakeholders who reported that licensing board members were more interested in 'anecdote'. This clash of cultures of evidence was also highlighted by Somerville et al 16 Closer examination of the evidence yields a more nuanced understanding. Most studies of alcohol availability have focused on reduced consumption and related acute harms in the short term, with few studies looking at impacts on the longer-term harms on which some public health stakeholders focused.…”

“…licensing officers/managers, police staff with a licensing remit, elected members and licensing lawyers/clerks) about the role of public health in the licensing process to develop understanding of the potential and value for public health contributions, and strengthen them accordingly. 15 Somerville et al 16 reported that, in a qualitative study in six London boroughs, most public health interviewees agreed that partnership working with licensing colleagues was the ideal situation. Some felt that integrating into existing partnerships at the local level was hard to achieve, and licensing colleagues reported confusion about the role of public health in licensing.…”

Factors influencing public health engagement in alcohol licensing in England and Scotland including legal and structural differences: comparative interview analysis

“…These include, for example, engaging local authority stakeholders on licensing policy or seeking to influence decisions on applications. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] The absence of a health-focused objective for licensing in England (unlike in Scotland) is seen by many English public health teams (PHTs) as hindering their efforts to influence licensing, 14,16,17 and is often perceived as diminishing the legitimacy of public health stakeholders in relation to other statutory bodies. This also makes it more likely that the admissibility of health evidence will be challenged in licensing decisions, where a case can be made that such data are irrelevant to the other objectives.…”

“…Nevertheless, even without a public health objective, many PHTs in England have sought to work closely with other licensing stakeholders, such as the police, to try to boost their influence on both decisions and policy. 13,14 In Scotland, however, licensing stakeholders also report difficulties applying the public health objective, especially when objecting to individual applications. 9,18 We are unaware of any comparative studies that have examined how legal or structural differences between these two licensing systems (other than the extra objective in Scotland) might affect public health practices.…”