Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the other members of the Committee.

A Vice-Chair was not required on this occasion at the Committee.

Councillors Grant Johnson and Sue Craig had sent their apologies to the Committee.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

There were none.

The Committee approved these minutes as a correct record.

The report sets out the proposed response to the guidance set out in the Statutory Taxi & Private Hire Vehicle Standards published by the Department for Transport in July 2020.

The Team Manager for Licensing and Environmental Protection introduced this report to the Committee. She explained that the report by Dame Louise Casey in February 2015 made it clear that weak and ineffective arrangements for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing had the potential to leave children and public at risk.

She added that the Department for Transport has worked with the Home Office, Local Government Association (LGA), personal safety charities, trade unions and trade bodies by holding workshops, forums, and sharing evidence and good practice with local authorities to assist in the setting of the standards.

She stated that as a licensing authority, the Council starts from a strong position, in that systems are already in place that are compliant with many of the suggestions and requirements in the Statutory Guidance. These include a strong policy in place, good links with the Police and driver awareness training on Child Exploitation.

She added that areas have been identified where further work by the Authority is required to identify and quantify the impact of the recommended measures on the Council, Licensees and the public who are intended to be protected by the Statutory Guidance. These include joining a national driver database, Committee Member training and increased criminality checks for drivers.

She said that work will also be carried out on the standards with other Local Authorities.

She stated that the present intention is to bring a further report back to the Committee to update them in February 2022.

Councillor Steve Hedges asked if the DBS are notified if a driver has their licence revoked by the Council.

The Lead Licensing Officer replied that there is no provision to do so regarding revocation, but that they would be notified if an issue is identified that shows that a driver is considered to be a safeguarding risk.

Councillor Hedges asked for a copy of the LGA handbook referred to in the report.

The Team Manager for Licensing and Environmental Protection replied that there was an online link to the handbook that could be circulated. https://www.local.gov.uk/councillor-handbook-taxi-and-phv-licensing

Councillor Hedges commented that he felt that once a driver’s licence had been revoked they should not be allowed to drive for work until their appeal had been heard.

The Chair asked the Deputy Team Leader, Legal Services to explain what options are available to the Licensing Sub-Committee when deciding on individual cases.

The Deputy Team Leader, Legal Services addressed the options on revocation in response to Councillor Hedges query and explained that depending on the seriousness of the offences reported the Sub-Committee can either impose:

·  Immediate Revocation

·  Revocation – with notice (Driver can appeal and still continue to work)

She added that both recent appeals had now been withdrawn, but had been listed for a court hearing quite quickly.

The Chair said that the Council joining a national database was a welcome move as currently drivers could apply to drive in other Local Authorities if they have their licence revoked.

The Team Manager for Licensing and Environmental  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.