Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Early Intervention and Support (enclosed)

The Director of Early Intervention and Support submitted a report for the Licensing and Public Safety Committee to consider the consultation responses to the draft Consolidated Taxi Licensing Policy and agree the timescale for review of the Policy.

The Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy consolidates all previous Taxi Licensing policies, therefore the Licensing and Public Safety Committee has already carefully considered and made decisions on the details of each of the policies at previous committees. Members were informed that additional proposals were raised during the consultation period and were discussed at the Licensing Liaison Panel which were to be subsequently addressed at the meeting.

The Draft Policy was put out for consultation for a period of 12 weeks to the end of December 2016, each licensed driver, vehicle proprietor and private hire operator was written to and provided a link to the Council’s website, where the document was published.

Due to the volume of recommendations included in the report, the committee agreed to consider and vote on each recommendation individually in turn.

The Regulatory Services Manager drew Members’ attention to the first consultation response that was received from Coopers Taxis, the largest Private Hire Operator in the Borough. The email suggested the mandatory installation of CCTV in all vehicles, new and existing, for the following reasons; it had been recommended as part of the Safeguarding Awareness Training which was delivered to Members and the Trade in 2016. The cost of CCTV installation had reduced dramatically in recent years and camera systems could now be purchased for as little as £30. Responses from the Safeguarding Forum suggested that this practice was beneficial for drivers. For example, if a serious accusation is made against a driver they can be dealt with immediately and thus avoid the driver facing suspension whilst the incident is investigated. Members were made aware that this proposal had been raised with the Trade and the Licensing Liaison Panel in January 2017 and members present supported the suggestion.

With regards to a timescale for implementation it had been suggested at the Licensing Liaison Panel either the 1 January 2018 or 1 April 2018 for existing vehicles and new vehicles on grant. Members were informed that this time period would allow operators to install sophisticated systems if they desired. Members agreed that personal choice would suggest that they would want to install the systems as soon as possible and therefore recommended that this be exercised imminently but only mandatory by 1 January 2018. This also led members to suggest that no restrictions be made on the make or model as long as it was in compliance with the ICO guidelines.

Following further discussion and a verbal amendment to the recommendation by the Regulatory Services Manager, Members agreed to include a condition that the CCTV footage must be kept for a minimum of 28 days. Ultimately, the responsibility for storage would lie with the proprietor.

Furthermore, members agreed that signage must be visible in vehicles at all times to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67