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Number: A0302
Date Published: 6 September 2019
Version 3 – September 2019
On its 3 yearly review this procedure has been amended as follows:
Section 154 of the Licensing Act 2003 specifically mandates that it is the duty of every local weights and measures authority (trading standards) in England and Wales to enforce within its area the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 relating to the sale of alcohol to children.
The primary authority for conducting Juvenile Test Purchase operations rests with the trading standards departments of Essex County Council and the unitary authorities of Thurrock and Southend.
A detailed Code of Practice (Age Restricted Products & Services: A Code of Practice for Regulatory Delivery (BRDO, Department for Business Innovation & Skills, April 2014)) provides for an explanation of when test purchase operations may be appropriate and how they can be conducted.
The role of Essex Police in any test purchase operation will be limited to:
Compliance with this procedure and any governing policy is mandatory.
All three Trading Standards Departments have detailed procedures for the conducting of test purchase operations. Any test purchase operation involving Essex Police will be conducted in accordance with those local authority procedures then in place.
These local authority procedures comply with the statutory Code of Practice (above) and the Practical Guide to Test Purchasing issued in 2010 by the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACoRS).
Specifically, these procedures include:
Essex Police will not recruit or train young persons for deployment as ‘test purchasers’: save where a request is made by a trading standards department for the assistance of one or more Voluntary Police Cadets.
Where this is the case compliance with C 2104 Procedure - VPC – Operations, Events and Court Attendance is mandatory.
For each joint operation, the following practices will take place:
This procedure has been assessed with regard to an Equality Impact Assessment. As a result of this assessment it has been graded as having a low potential impact as the proposals in this procedure would have no potential or actual differential impact on grounds of age, sex, disability, race, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation, gender reassignment and pregnancy and maternity.
The LACoRS Practical Guide includes a generic risk assessment template which can be used by a trading standards department where this is not separately included within their own procedures.
The test purchaser should maintain as short and clear distance between themselves and the door as possible and abort if feeling compromised or uncomfortable for any reason.
Depending on the nature of the premises, sufficient ‘adult witnesses’ should be in place to protect and retrieve the juvenile test purchaser in the event of exposure. At least one adult witness should be dedicated to the test purchaser’s protection at all times during the operation.
Given the risk of exposure in potentially hostile and confined premises, an exit strategy should be clearly defined prior to the commencement of any ‘On’ licence operation. Ideally one adult should be placed at or shadow the test purchaser to the bar for when the purchase is made. Another (the designated adult witness in the above ethical practice) should wait near the door for the test purchaser to return to with the drinks.
The management of potential risks are ultimately the responsibility of the lead agency in control of the operation.
The following have been consulted during the formulation of this document:
This procedure will be reviewed every three years by, or on behalf of, the owner.
Essex Police have measures in place to protect the security of your data in accordance with our Information Management Policy – W 1000 Policy – Information Management.
Essex Police will hold data in accordance with our Records Review, Retention & Disposal Policy – W 1012 Procedure/SOP - Records Review, Retention and Disposal.
We will only hold data for as long as necessary for the purposes for which we collected. Victims/public should be reminded that Essex Police take the protection of personal data seriously as described in the privacy notice.