Form 696 was a
risk assessment
Broadly speaking, a risk assessment is the combined effort of:
# identifying and analyzing potential (future) events that may negatively impact individuals, assets, and/or the environment (i.e. hazard analysis); and
# making judgments "on the to ...
form
Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens.
Form also refers to:
*Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data
...
used by the
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
from 2008 to 2017, which requested
promoters and
licensee
A licensee can mean the holder of a license or, in U.S. tort law, a licensee is a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the li ...
s of events to complete and submit 14 days in advance of an event in 21
London boroughs
The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at t ...
. Non-compliance with this could result in police opposition to event licences being granted.
This form became controversial due to its stipulation that names, stage names, private addresses, and phone numbers of all promoters,
DJs and
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
s be listed. The form also asked for a description of the style of music to be performed and the
target audience
A target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message catered specifically to said intended audience. In marketing and advertising, it is a particular group of consumer within the predetermined ...
. The original form asked for details of
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
s likely to attend the performance, but that version was revised to omit those parameters in December 2008.
In November 2017, the Met Police announced that, following a review of how the form was being used, it was to be scrapped.
Opposition
Feargal Sharkey
Seán Feargal Sharkey (born 13 August 1958) is a singer from Northern Ireland most widely known as the lead vocalist of punk band The Undertones in the 1970s and 1980s, and for solo works in the 1980s and 1990s. His 1985 solo single "A Good H ...
, Head of
UK Music
UK Music is a British umbrella organisation which represents the collective interests of the production side of UK's commercial music industry: artists, musicians, songwriters, composers, record labels, artist managers, music publishers, studio ...
and former lead singer of
The Undertones
The Undertones are a rock band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974. From 1975 to 1983, the Undertones consisted of Feargal Sharkey (vocals), John O'Neill (rhythm guitar, vocals), Damian O'Neill (lead guitar, vocals), Michael Bradley ...
, gave evidence to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, formerly the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is one of the select committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department fo ...
in November 2008 stating that "We learned that the Metropolitan Police, in conjunction with an organization called London Councils - a representative body for all London borough - at the end of last year jointly wrote to all 33 local London boroughs recommending that they insert some particular wording into their local licensing policy statements." He added that the
London Borough of Hillingdon
The London Borough of Hillingdon () is the largest and westernmost borough in West London, England. It was formed from the districts of Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the ceremonial county ...
in west London, "tries to make a direct connection not only between crime and disorder and live music, but most astonishingly - I'm still knocked over in disbelief - between live music and the prevention of terrorism." Sharkey stated that he would be seeking a
Judicial Review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
on the use of the form and had complained to the
Equality and Human Rights Commission
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body in Great Britain, established by the Equality Act 2006 with effect from 1 October 2007. The Commission has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of eq ...
about the targeting of musical styles favoured by black and Asian teenagers.
According to Sharkey an afternoon school charity concert in a public park had been cancelled because organisers could not supply the details of the young performers.
Jon McClure
Jon McClure (born 22 December 1981), known as The Reverend, is an English musician. He is the lead singer and frontman of Reverend and The Makers, and ex-vocalist of 1984 and Judan Suki. He says that the name "Reverend" became his moniker because ...
, lead singer with
Reverend and the Makers, set up a petition on the
UK Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
's website to allow protest against what he alleges as "racial discrimination".
In a statement on their web site, The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters CEO Patrick Rackow stated "...the imposition of Form 696 on live music is likely to discourage the existence and growth of live music. Music has long been a positive form of free expression, for people from all walks of life to create and enjoy. This form appears to single out certain genres of music and ethnic audiences and therefore the Academy cannot support it.”
In December 2008,
Mike Howlett
Michael John Gilmour Howlett (born 27 April 1950) is a record producer and teacher based in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Career
In the late 1960s, Howlett was the bassist in Sydney pop band the Affair, which included vocalist Kerrie Bidde ...
, Chairman of the Music Producers Guild (UK), wrote to the General Secretary of the Musicians Union "In keeping with the Musicians Union and UK Music, we feel this is a gross infringement of civil liberties and a form of racial discrimination. We also feel that this will deter the staging of live musical events, stifle free expression and possibly penalise certain genres of music and ethnic audiences. Our members are horrified that this legislation, introduced in 2006, is being enforced under the guise of public law and order. We see no reason why artists and/or venue owners and managers should be forced to comply."
Police position
David Isles, Detective Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice unit has stated that Form 696 is not designed to stop people having a good time. The Metropolitan Police web site describes the form as a ''Promotion Event risk assessment form''.
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Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Martin stated that the original form, with its questions relating to audience ethnicity "was removed just because I don't think it added any value to the form.... We take account of where the event is playing, what other events might be playing nearby, the type of music that's being played, and whether there have been problems before. We've had quite a few of what I consider 'higher risk events', where there may be some problems - so we recommend additional searching processes and additional security to help manage the event safely."
"It's not about being risk averse, it's about managing the risk," he said. "If you're a publican and you are just having some performers to entertain your regular customers, you won't be expected to do a risk assessment. It's for when the performance is being put on to draw people in. We will never assess somebody just on the genre of music they are performing. There is a whole raft of factors that are taken into account."
Form revised
In September 2009, the Metropolitan Police announced "that venues would no longer be asked for details of the music style. A requirement to provide the telephone number of the performing artist will also be dropped and an independent "scrutiny panel" will be set up to ensure that the form is not misused."
Feargal Sharkey
Seán Feargal Sharkey (born 13 August 1958) is a singer from Northern Ireland most widely known as the lead vocalist of punk band The Undertones in the 1970s and 1980s, and for solo works in the 1980s and 1990s. His 1985 solo single "A Good H ...
described this as an "exercise in semantics" and called for the form to be completely scrapped. He added that "it was clear that the altered version continued to target musicians from ethnic minorities and he objected strongly to a question which asks about the 'make-up of the patrons'."
[
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Form 696 scrapped
On 10 November 2017, it was announced that the use of Form 696 was to be discontinued in London following a review called for by Mayor of London
The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum, Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first Directly elected may ...
Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...
. Reporting the decision, the BBC noted, "The Met denied the form had been used to target particular genres but said it had decided to drop it after a fall in 'serious incidents' at music events"; however, the BBC also reported that a Freedom of Information
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigeno ...
request earlier in 2017 had discovered that 16 other English police forces were using forms similar to Form 696.
References
{{Reflist, 2
External links
Supplementary Memorandum
from Feargal Sharkey, CEO, UK Music to Culture, Media and Sport committee
MS Word version of form
at the Metropolitan Police
Censorship of music
Statutory law
Licensing
Metropolitan Police