Scotland - Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill passes final Parliamentary hurdle

The Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill, which seeks to tighten access to air weapons in Scotland and other measures to improve public safety, has just been passed by the Scottish Parliament and sets out new rules for a range of topics including alcohol licensing - the latest of a series of changes in this area.

The new Act includes the creation of new offences of giving, or making available, alcohol to a child or young person for consumption in a public place, introduces a new licensing regime for lap dancing venues allowing greater control over their number and operation and creates a new role of Civic Licensing Standards Officer to help enforce civic licensing regimes.

Commencement Orders and some secondary legislation will be required to bring these measures into actual effect; expected to start in the autumn.

For more detail and an overview of the licensing provisions as proposed, see our previous article - 'Scotland - Significant changes to the Licensing Act (Scotland) 2005 tabled'.