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Form 696 revised a bit

By | Published on Tuesday 8 September 2009

The Metropolitan Police have revised their controversial Form 696 removing the most contentious question, the one about music genre.

As previously reported, the Met introduced the Form 696 following changes in UK licensing laws, which gave new powers to local authorities. Now used by all London councils, the form has come under increased criticism as the impact of the 2003 Licensing Act has been reviewed by political types this year. Many in the live sector say the form is an example of how the live music licensing process has become too bureaucratic, while some have expressed concern as to what happens to all the personal information about participating musicians that the form demands to know.

But most contentious was the question that asked about the genre category an event might fall under. It was thought that this information might be used by officials to make assumptions about the racial make up of a potential audience, and that that information may lead to prejudicial decisions being made regarding granting a licence, or not.

That question led to a letter signed by fifty key people being sent to the Equalities And Human Rights Commission, and it seems it might have been that letter that persuaded the Met to drop the genre question from its form; though they say that the question has actually been removed because an internal review of 696 has shown there is little correlation between genre type and events where trouble occurs.

While the genre question was the most contentious bit, cross-sector trade body UK Music – probably the most vocal opponents of the form – say they maintain the viewpoint that the form should be scrapped, pointing to that parliamentary select committee which said the same thing.

The trade body issued this statement yesterday: “The Metropolitan Police review process for this risk assessment form has not been conducted in a fully transparent way, and we would like to make it clear that UK Music has not been part of this review. UK Music stands by our position in support of the recommendations of the Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport. Form 696 should not be amended. It should be scrapped”.

While admitting that some aspects of the form had been expressed in a “clumsy” way, the head of the Met’s Clubs & Vice Unit, Chief Superintendent Richard Martin, said he didn’t believe the form to be discriminatory, adding that his department simply wanted to know what “followings” might attend a gig or club event, and whether there was the potential for any confrontations between competing “followings”. According to the BBC, Martin told a briefing on the form revisions: “If you have a series of people playing in a nightclub, each will have their own following. Sometimes those followings don’t get on”.

While many live music types still oppose the 696 form, Music Week reported that at the aforementioned briefing some promoters said they appreciated the opportunity to share information with police about audiences so to pre-empt any potential conflicts.



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