Agenda item

Report of the Director of Early Intervention (enclosed)

The Director of Early Intervention and Support submitted a report noting the arrangements made for the safeguarding and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) awareness training of the licensing trade.

At Committee in February, Members AGREED that Safeguarding and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) awareness training for the licensed trades was a top priority for Chorley Council and such training should be made mandatory for the taxi trade and voluntary for other licence holders.

Subsequent research concluded that many other Lancashire Authorities are commissioning Lancashire Constabulary or an approved consultant (former Lancashire Police CSE investigator Tony Baxter) to provide the training and Chorley want to ensure consistency across the locality, as many drivers work across a number of boroughs. Members recalled the CSE training they received from Tony Baxter in February to be highly informative and recommended him to be a suitable alternative.

Assurances were made that the Police training package was free to Chorley Council and the Consultant Services are low cost, at £250 per day for delivery of up to 5 sessions per day. It was AGREED that the Council would meet any costs of training for existing drivers from the public purse as it would be inappropriate to impose additional costs on those already licensed by the authority.

Based on fleet figures within the Borough it was estimated that about 400-450 Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver licence holders and operators would require the mandatory training. It was proposed to limit attendance to 50 per session and therefore undertake approximately 8-10 training sessions over the course of two days over the next 2 months, depending upon trainer availability. Licence holders would be informed of the available training dates and times and asked to reply on a first come first served basis.

Members also encouraged that training be available for other licence holders such as premises licence holders and personal licence holders on a voluntary basis. However, numbers may have to be restricted for some seminars in order to ensure that all mandatory training requirements are met first.

It was proposed by Councillor John Walker, seconded by Councillor Gordon France and subsequently RESOLVED that;

a)    All current holders of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers Licences and Private Hire Operators Licences must complete mandatory Safeguarding and CSE awareness training.

b)   The mandatory training would take the form of a seminar, facilitated by Chorley Council, where the police, or an approved consultant, will provide the training to ensure a consistent level of training in line with that provided across the Lancashire Authorities.

c)    Those invited for mandatory training must register on one of the training events from the selection of training dates and times provided. They must sign in at the event using their licence as identification.

d)   A training certificate will be presented to each delegate which must be retained as proof of attendance and completion of the training.

e)    Training will also be available for other licence holders, such as premises licence holders and personal licence holders, on a voluntary basis.

In addition, it was AGREED that the Lancashire County Council on-line training programme, which is currently a free to use service, was appropriate for the Trade to undertake as part of the renewal process. Driver licences currently last for three years and Private Hire Operator’s licences for five years and so Members considered what would be an appropriate timescale for update training in line with this. Members also felt that drivers and operators should be provided with the facility of face-to-face update training at the Council offices if preferred.

It was proposed by Councillor Gordon France, seconded by Councillor Margaret France and subsequently RESOLVED that

a)    The granting of any new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers Licence and Private Hire Operators Licence will include an application pre-requisite to complete the Lancashire County Council on-line training programme.

b)   That on-line update training is required as part of the renewal processes for each driver and operator.

c)    The current policies will be updated to reflect the requirement for training for both renewal and grant.

d)   Where existing licence holders fail to attend the training they will be unable to renew their licence.

The mandatory annual update training would be completed on an online or face-to-face basis.

Where an existing driver or operator has attended training but their renewal is due within the next 12 months, additional training at renewal of that licence is not required. However, where an existing driver is not due for renewal in the next 12 months must complete the additional training.