Public Health involvement in alcohol licensing decisions: policy, partnerships and professional ideology

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 added ‘health bodies’ as Responsible Authorities within licensing decisions and, in practice, Directors of Public Health undertook this role. Despite the Act enabling Public Health departments to engage with alcohol licensing decisions to facilitate the inclusion of Public Health in licensing, wide variations in involvement levels by Public Health departments persist. If this variation continues, it will potentially create a missed opportunity relating to potential improvements in population health relating to alcohol.
This research was funded by Alcohol Research UK (now merged with Alcohol Concern). The subject matter is an important area of research, and to date, has only received limited attention.
This research adopted an approach which allowed the exploration of the experiences of Public Health professionals engagement in alcohol licensing decisions in London. The specific research questions were:
• How is national policy around the role of Public Health in alcohol licensing, translated and implemented at a local authority level?
• What are the factors that facilitate or impede Public Health engagement in alcohol licensing partnerships?
Qualitative data was collected through twenty-one in-depth interviews in a purposeful sample of London boroughs, consisting of five areas (six London boroughs as one Public Health department covered two boroughs). This was combined with analysis of relevant documentation and field notes of observations of fourteen Licensing Sub-Committee meetings in one London borough over a seven-month period. Thematic analysis of data was completed to identify emerging themes and to fully answer the research questions.
This study provided new knowledge, plus added to existing knowledge, with key themes relating to:
• The role of Public Health within licensing decisions
• Engagement and challenges to licensing partnerships