Issue - meetings

Report of Interim Director for Communities.

John Davis, Taxi Licensing Compliance Manager, presented the report regarding the Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Licensing Policy & Procedures Manual (‘the Manual’), and highlighted the following points:

(a)  The purpose of the Manual is to meet the recommendation made in July 2020 by the Department for Transport, for all licensing authorities to make available a cohesive policy and procedures document on taxi and private hire vehicle licensing;

(b)  On 27 February 2023, the Committee resolved to release the Manual for an eight-week consultation (save for appendixes A-B and I-Q, which reflect already adopted policies and procedures). The consultation was carried out between 02 March 2023 and 27 April 2023;

(c)  One consultation response was received from the App Drivers & Couriers Union (ADCU), on behalf of 209 members;

(d)  A number of matters raised in that submission were outside the scope of the consultation, including comments about the constitution of the Committee that recommended the Manual be put to consultation, and are not therefore addressed in the report;

(e)  The points considered in response to ADCU’s submission, and any changes to the Manual in response, are outlined in Appendix 2 of the public agenda pack. This includes a further condition to make it clear that where the operator is a company, partnership, or group, a basic DBS is needed for each director, partner, or individual, and not just the company, partnership, or group;

(f)  In addition to the amendments to the Manual mentioned in the report an additional paragraph has been included in the Enforcement, Convictions, and Fitness Policy (Appendix C of the Manual) regarding offences of discrimination, which is contained in the full Manual attached as a supplement to the agenda pack.

In the discussion which followed, and in response to questions from the Committee, the following points were made:

(g)  Committee Members asked for clarity as to why applicants or licence holders who are convicted of crimes of exploitation ‘will not normally’ be granted a licence, while some other offences have given time periods before which a licence will not normally be granted. Officers clarified that this does not mean the offense of exploitation is treated more leniently than those with defined time limits. The Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles Standards provide recommended time limits before which a licence will not normally be granted after conviction for various offenses, while the recommendation in relation to an applicant convicted of an offense of exploitation is to not normally grant a licence at any time;

(h)  The periods of time before which an applicant will not normally be granted a licence in the Enforcement, Convictions and Fitness Policy are aligned with the statutory guidance;

(i)  When an authority refuses to grant a licence, or suspends or revokes a licence granted previously, the applicant or licence-holder will have 21 days after the notice of refusal to lodge an appeal with the Magistrate’s Court;

(j)  The additional paragraph related to offenses of discrimination relates to offenses outlined in the Equality Act 2010,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15