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Agenda item
ADOPTION OF GUIDANCE ON DETERMINING SUITABILITY OF APPLICANTS AND LICENSEES IN THE HACKNEY AND PRIVATE HIRE TRADES
Minutes:
Consideration was give
to the report, which recommended the adoption of new guidance on determining
the suitability of applicants and licensees in the hackney and private hire
trades in the County borough.
Members were advised that the Institute of
Licensing (IOL), in partnership with other organisations, have produced
guidance on determining the suitability of applicants and licensees in the hackney
and private hire trades. The document
was subsequently endorsed by the Wales Licensing Expert Panel with the
recommendation that all Welsh authorities replace their current
guidelines/policy with this new guidance.
A number of authorities in Wales and England have since adopted the
guidance with a view to providing a consistent approach to the determination of
applications for hackney carriage and private hire trades. A copy of the guidance was appended to the
report, with Members asked to note that the new guidance is more stringent than
the existing Caerphilly CBC criteria.
Examples of offence types and the existing criteria versus the proposed
new criteria were set out at Section 5.6 of the report.
In
addition to the national consultation undertaken on the IOL Guidance, a 4 week
consultation exercise with all 480 existing licensees took place in Caerphilly
county borough during April 2019. 9
responses were received in total, which were set out at Appendix 2 of the
report, and either opposed the adoption of the new guidance or advocated the
provision of ‘grandfather rights’ for existing drivers. Several respondees
also made reference to medical requirements, which is a separate requirement
and not relevant to the adoption of this guidance.
The
report therefore advocated the adoption of the IOL guidance by Caerphilly
Council, and that ‘grandfather rights’ be extended to existing licensed drivers
in this regard. As a consequence,
existing matters will not be reassessed, but any new convictions, cautions or
other matters connected to an existing licencee’s
character will be considered against the proposed new guidance set out at
Appendix 4 of the report. The approach
of providing grandfather rights is consistent with the approach taken by other
Welsh authorities, including Powys and Pembrokeshire. Any new applications across the hackney and
private hire trades will be assessed against the new guidance. It was noted that if Members were minded to adopt
the new guidance, it would come into effect after the next Taxi and General Sub
Committee on 11th October 2019.
The report noted that future changes to legislation and guidance may
have an impact on this policy and the driver conditions, and therefore proposed
that Officers review the policy regularly and amend as required for minor
administrative purposes or to comply with changes in legislation or statutory
guidance. Any significant changes will
be brought before the Taxi and General Committee for Members’ consideration.
During the course of debate on this item,
reference was made to “grandfather rights” in respect of the higher standard of
medical fitness test for taxi drivers (Group 2 medicals) adopted by the Council
in May 2015. Officers explained that
this is a separate licensing matter and that the report under consideration
focused on the suitability of applicants and licensees in respect of
convictions, cautions and other matters.
The Member asked if a report could be brought to Committee to revisit
medical requirements and it was confirmed that the request would be addressed
at the end of the meeting.
Having considered the report and taken into
account the objections and comments received during the consultation process,
it was moved and seconded that the recommendations as set out in the report be
approved. By a show of hands this was unanimously agreed.
RESOLVED that :-
(i) the IOL guidance (as appended to the
report) on determining the suitability of applicants and licensees in the
hackney and private hire trades be adopted from 11th October 2019;
(ii) in view of the above, the current Caerphilly County Borough Council
driver policy be updated (as per Appendix 4 of the report) to reflect the
amendments relating to drivers, private hire operators and vehicle proprietors,
for use at future Taxi & General Sub Committee Hearings.
Supporting documents: