Here is a section which is top secret but all trades in the Civic Act are governed by the "Fit Person Test" where the Police can object to the license. Remember it is not window cleaners that are governed by this but Taxi drivers, pub landlords, wheelie bin cleaners, car valeting, street trader and now tatoo parlours have been introduced. There are a couple of other trades but cannot think to hand what they are.
This document informs what pub licensee holders are governed by a "Fit Person" which is near enough the same as window cleaners. It is all in legal jargon so please don't ask me to explain it, but I feel it is not clear enough.
“FIT AND PROPER PERSON” TEST - LICENSING (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005
The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 (the “2005 Act”) will replace the Licensing
(Scotland) Act 1976 in its entirety. The 2005 Act and the new licences under it come
fully into force on 1 September 2009 at the end of a transition period that began in
February 2008. It replaces the 1976 Act’s system of separate licences for pubs,
restaurants &c with a single all-purpose premises licence and a personal licence.
An issue of concern that has been raised with the way the 2005 Act will work is the
restricted ability of the police to comment on applications for premises and personal
licences.
Under the 1976 Act, various “competent objectors”, including the chief constable,
may object to the grant, renewal or transfer of a licence. Objections must be relevant
to the grounds, as set out in section 17, on which the Board may refuse to grant a
licence. These grounds include that the applicant (or connected persons) are not a
“fit and proper person” to be the holder of a licence. Section 16A also permits the
chief constable to submit “observations”, again relevant to the grounds in section 17.
The 2005 Act takes a different approach. Section 22 allows any person to object to an
application for a premises licence, but subsection (2) limits the chief constable so
that he can only object on the ground that he has reason to believe that the applicant
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is involved in serious organised crime and that refusal of the application is necessary
for the purpose of the crime prevention objective (in section 4(2)). The chief
constable also has a role, under section 21, of providing antisocial behaviour reports
and a notice relating to convictions for relevant or foreign offences.
We propose to amend the 2005 Act to enhance the police role. We do not propose to
reintroduce a “fit and proper person” test as such, but rather to work within the
existing framework of the 2005 Act to ensure that the police have appropriate powers
and suitable provisions will be included in the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill.
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