5. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the implementation of section 179 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 regarding disabled access. (S5O-00714)

Section 179 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 requires individuals applying for a liquor premises licence to provide a disability access and facilities statement along with their application. The statement is to contain information about disabled access to the premises and facilities, and any other provision available to aid the use of the premises by disabled people. Failure to provide a statement is not a ground for refusing an application, but it means that the premises application would be incomplete and could not be considered by the licensing board.

The provision does not interfere with the existing duty under equality law to make reasonable adjustments to make sure that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard that is usually offered to non-disabled people.

Section 179 cannot be commenced in isolation; it is also necessary to update secondary legislation to provide the necessary statutory forms, alongside providing guidance to applicants. We intend to complete that work within the remainder of this year.

In 2010, an Amendment to the legislation was passed, with cross-party support, following “Barred!”, which was a campaign run by Mark Cooper in association with Capability Scotland. The amendment was to ensure that licensed premises must provide the information that the Cabinet secretary has outlined. Unfortunately, the Government has yet to commence the provision. It has stated that it would do so by the end of this session of Parliament, which would obviously mean a delay of more than a decade, so I welcome the cabinet secretary’s commitment today. Will he act without delay and ensure that the provision is commenced this year? Does he agree with me that, for many disabled people, a beer delayed is a beer denied?

It is important to recognise that, although there was cross-party support for the Amendment, the provision does not require a licence holder to commit to any amendments or alterations to their premises; rather, the provision is about the factual information that must be provided at the time when an application for a liquor licence is being made.

As Daniel Johnson will recognise, a significant amount of new regulations on licensed premises have been introduced, including on licensing for scrap metal companies and air weapons. We have tried to take forward the legislation on a phased basis, in order to make sure that we manage the process for those who require to have a licence or to apply for a licence.

There are secondary legislation issues accompanying the provision; we will seek to make progress on it over this year. I will try to make sure that the work is taken forward as early as possible. At this stage, I cannot give the member a final date on when the process will be completed.