Council and Democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtually via Microsoft Teams

Contact: Brian Offiler  01246 345229

Items
No. Item

21.

Declarations of Members' and Officers' Interests relating to items on the agenda

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were received.

22.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

No apologies for absence were received.

23.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 259 KB

Minutes of the Meetings of the Appeals and Regulatory Committee held on 4 March, 11 March and 16 December, 2020 and 19 January, 2021.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED –

 

That the minutes of the meetings of the Appeals and Regulatory Committee held on 4 March, 11 March and 16 December, 2020 and on 19 January, 2021 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

24.

Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy - Policy Amendments (A000) pdf icon PDF 285 KB

Minutes:

The Licensing Manager presented a report for Members to consider comments received from the consultation on the proposed amendments to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.

 

A period of consultation on the proposed amendments had been approved by the Appeals and Regulatory Committee at its meeting on 25 November, 2020. A response had been received in respect of the proposal to require a standard DBS certificate from private hire call dispatchers, and a copy of the response was attached as Appendix B to the report.

 

The report explained the rationale behind this requirement arising from the recent government publication ‘Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards’, and it outlined at paragraph 4.5 related additional measures that would need to be included as conditions on a private hire operator’s licence, with a suggested period of six months for operators to implement these measures.

 

The report also referenced the other proposed amendments to the policy arising from the government standards document which had been outlined in the previous report to the Appeals and Regulatory Committee meeting on 25 November, 2020 (which was attached as Appendix A to the current report), including the use of the disclosure and barring service, self-reporting by licence holders, completion of safeguarding training, consideration of convictions, joint authorisation of enforcement officers, consultation on CCTV in vehicles, private hire operators using passenger carrying vehicles (PCV), the reclassification of failing to stop after an accident as a major motoring offence and limiting consideration of major road traffic offences to within the last ten years.

 

In considering the response received to the consultation, the Committee was of the view that requiring standard DBS certificates from private hire call dispatchers was a reasonable step to enhancing public safety.

 

* RESOLVED –

 

That the amendments to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy outlined in paragraphs 4.9 – 4.39 of the report to the Appeals and Regulatory Committee of 25 November 2020, with the added provisions regarding private hire operators’ licences outlined in paragraphs 4.4 – 4.6 of the officer’s report, be implemented from 1 April 2021.