Scottish government lawyers taken to task over erroneous legal papers

Janet Hood

Official accreditation documents, which were described as being “full of errors in terms of basics in law”, were sent out on September 26, detailing the training qualifications a person must hold in order to be granted a licence to sell alcohol.

Officials at the Scottish Government Legal Directorate (SGLD) said they were already aware of the problem when they were approached the following morning. 

The documents imply an individual can apply for a licence if they have, at any time, obtained a training qualification, irrespective of how old it is or whether it has been used to previously grant a licence.

In an email seen by The Courier, the SGLD branch head said staff were “aware of this error and are working on a change right now”.

It is thought this will mean the removal of “whenever obtained”, which will be replaced with “if obtained within the five year period prior to the expiry date of the personal licence to which (the application relates)”.

Licensing specialist Janet Hood said the problem could be a “train crash for the trade”.

She said: “There could potentially be thousands of applications submitted to licensing boards at £50 each while the Scottish government tries to sort this out.

“How long will this revision take and given their previous track record, will it need to be looked at again? Do people submitting these applications lose the fee if the wrong documents are sent in?”

A spokesperson for the Scottish government said: “If your personal licence was issued on or before September 1 2009, then we recommend you undertake a refresher training course and send the certificate to the relevant licensing board along with the renewal application.

“This advice was set out in a communications document issued on July 31. We continue to engage with relevant stakeholders and will take account of their concerns.”