Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Local Government Association offer guidance on good practice for licensing authorities in response to spiking. Our inquiries relate to the extent to which your licensing authority implements these recommendations – specifically:-

Q1) Do you explicitly reference spiking prevention in your statement of licensing policy?

Q2) Have you run a communications campaign to clearly demonstrate that your council takes a zero-tolerance approach to spiking.

Q3) Which of the following partnership schemes are training packages are referenced in your statement of licensing policy?
· Pubwatch
· Best Bar None
· Purple Flag
· Community Alcohol Partnerships
· Street Pastors
· The Welfare and Vulnerability Engagement (WAVE) initiative
· ‘Ask for Angela’

Q4) Has your licensing authority followed the recommendation of the Home Affairs Select Committee to consider the prevalence, prevention and reporting of sexual harassment and misconduct and gender-based violence in statements of licensing policy.

Q5) For the previous 5 calendar years please provide the number of venues which have had their licence suspended, revoked, or/and had conditions added to the licence, as a result of spiking incidents within the venue. Please could you provide this data broken down by year.
a) 2018
b) 2019
c) 2020
d) 2021
e) 2022
f) 2023 (including latest available data)

Q6) How many incidents of alleged spiking have been recorded by the licensing authority in the past five years. Please break down by year
a) 2018
b) 2019
c) 2020
d) 2021
e) 2022
f) 2023 (including latest available data)

Q7) Please provide details of the three most recent cases where a venue has had its licence suspended, revoked or/and had conditions added, as a result of spiking incidents

Thank you in advance for your help with these queries.

Yours faithfully,
Will Hecker