NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY COUNCIL

LICENSING AND REGULATORY COMMITTEE

At a meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held in Committee Room 1, County Hall, Morpeth, NE61 2EF on Wednesday 28 October, 2015 at 1:35 pm.

PRESENT

Councillor Parry

(in the Chair)

MEMBERS

D Bawn / B Pidcock
E I Hunter / M A Purvis
J I Hutchinson
T Johnstone
V Jones
K Nisbet / J Reid
M E Richards
A G Sambrook
V Tyler

OFFICERS

H Bowers / Democratic Services Officer
T Hardy
G Hughes / Acting Licensing Manager
Senior Licensing Officer
H Gebbie
N Masson / Senior Licensing Officer
Principal Solicitor, Regulation
D Sayer
P Soderquest / Business Compliance & Public Safety Unit Manager
Head of Public Protection

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE

Councillor L Simpson – Deputy Business Chair

Mr M Skinner, Blyth Valley Taxi Drivers’ Association

11.APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor C Cessford.

12.MINUTES

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on Wednesday, 26 August 2015, be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

13.MINUTES

RESOLVED that the minutes of the sub-committee held on 24 Septemberbe received for information.

14.REPORTS OF THE HEAD OF PUBLIC PROTECTION

(1)Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy

Approval was sought for the Head of Public Protection to undertake consultation of the draft amended Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.

The policy provided guidance to officers ofthe standards expected of taxi and private hire drivers and vehicle and private hire operators. Following the Deregulation Act 2015 and a number of reports regarding Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)in Rotherham and other places, the policy had been reviewed by Licensing Officers.

The Council had a duty to develop the policy in administering taxi and private hire to match local specific needs and the Licensing Team and Public Protection were responsible for the day to day implementation of the policy and had been involved in the development of the draft policy.

The draft policy will replace the current policy which came into effect on 1 October 2010 and included amendments to reflect changes in legislation.

The main proposed changes to the policy were:-

  • (Page 9) Introduction of identification plates for the front of private hire vehicles
  • (Page 12) Amendments to the advertising and livery policy – page 12 outlined the types of advertisements which should/should not be displayed
  • (Page 13) The inspection and testing of all licenced vehicles to be conducted by Northumberland County Council depots- the Council were in the process of developing a new depot at Alnwick
  • (Page 17) Requirements for CCTV to be installed in new vehicles from 1 April 2018 – a transition period would be allowed for the installation which would allow for both the safety of taxi drivers and the public which had come out of the Rotherham review
  • (Page 18) Changes to emissions standards
  • (Page 21) Driver training in relation to CSE for all new applicants
  • (Page 35) Insertion of section relating to non-motorised hackney carriages
  • (Appendix D) Amendments to the relevance of convictions guidance, including sexual offences, drink/drive etc. The current policy states that drivers will not usually be granted if an applicant had committed such an offence and the word “usually” would be removed to improve clarity
  • (Appendix I) Addition of driver code of conduct

The Committee was asked to endorse the draft policy and authorise the Head of Public Protection to undertake consultation on the draft policy from 30 October until 27 November. A list of consultees was attached to the back of the policy (Appendix H). A number of public meetings would be arranged for members of the trade to attend and the responses would be reported at December’s meeting.

Philip Soderquest, Head of Public Protection referred to the recent child sexual exploitation investigation in Rotherham involving taxi drivers and had recently attended a meeting with Robin Harper-Coulson, Safeguarding Board Manager to discuss ways of ensuring taxi drivers in Northumberland were aware of signs of offences and provide a training package. Mr Soderquest referred to page 21 of the current policy which related to driver knowledge and was concerned that the time required for the consultation, amendment of the policy failed and it being referred back to the Committee meant that it may not be implemented until April 2016. He felt that it was not appropriate that training of drivers and operators of CSE issues should wait until then. The addition of a fourth recommendation was suggested in order to expedite the training.

Mr Soderquest referred to the Council minutes of September 2010 which authorised the Licensing and Regulatory Committee to review and amend the policy in respect of matters of discretion, as appropriate upon request by the Public Safety and Enforcement Manager and felt that was the sort of situation that was in the policy to permit.

The following proposed recommendation was read out to the Committee:

“The Licensing and Regulatory Committee delegate authority to the Legal Services Manager and Head of Public Protection in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee to review and amend the existing Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy with immediate effect, in respect of the licensing of drivers and driver knowledge so as to include training in awareness of child and adult sexual exploitation, including consideration of sanctions for those drivers who do not undertake and complete the required training”.

Members then raised the following questions/comments:

  • Members be updated of the consultation at the next meeting
  • Did the policy include information on the right to appeal?
  • The relationship with members and taxi drivers in the Rotherham case
  • The inclusion of number plates to the front of vehicles had not been included in the policy
  • Dementia associations should be added to the list of consultees
  • Were there guidelines from DfT how to administer CCTV?

Mr Soderquest advised that the Committee would be updated of the consultation responses at the next meeting. He referred to the Driver Knowledge section in the draft policy which stated that no driver’s licences would be issued unless the applicant had completed the prescribed training in awareness of child and adult sexual exploitation.

David Sayer, Business Compliance and Public Safety Unit Manager explained that one of the most damning comments in the Casey Report about the Licensing Services in Rotherham was that officers said they would not allow members of their own families to travel in taxis in the town.

During the consultation process, 4 meetings would be set up in Berwick, Alnwick, Hexham and the South East.

Mr Sayer informed the Committee that Malcolm Skinner who represented Blyth Valley Taxi Drivers’ Association was in attendance and referred members to the list of consultees at Appendix H who would be invited to the consultation meetings. Information would also be sent via the Council, Facebook and Twitter.

In response to the question regarding CCTV, Mr Sayer advised that all images would remain the property of the driver or operator and would be a means to protect drivers and passengers. The CCTV would record whilst the vehicle was in use and if an incident arose, could be looked at for evidence. A question was asked about what would happen if the CCTV wasn’t switched on and Mr Sayer referred to the fact that the matter could be referred to the sub-committee.

The Rotherham case had been a very emotive and difficult issue and Northumbria Police supported the use of the CCTV. It was hoped that there would be a joint approach with other authorities with the support of the PCC.

A member pointed out a spelling error on page 70 for the Bell View project.

RESOLVEDit is recommended that:

1)The Licensing and Regulatory Committee endorse the draft policy

2)The Licensing and Regulatory Committee authorise the Head of Public Protection to undertake consultation on the draft policy

3)The consultation commence on 30 October 2015 and run until 27 November 2015

4)The Licensing and Regulatory Committee delegate authority to the Legal Services Manager and Head of Public Protection in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee to review and amend the existing Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy with immediate effect, in respect of the licensing of drivers and driver knowledge so as to include training in awareness of child and adult sexual exploitation, including consideration of sanctions for those drivers who do not undertake and complete the required training.

(2)Taxi and Private Hire Services – Deregulation Act 2015

Members were advised of the decision of the meeting held to discuss arrangements for the implementation of the Deregulation Act 2015 with respect to the length of time for which licences for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers and operators would be valid and the scale of fees for the extended licences.

On 26 August 2015, the Licensing and Regulatory Committee resolved to delegate the interim arrangements to come into effect on 1 October 2015 to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee, Portfolio Holder, Legal Services Manager and Head of Public Protection.

It had been hoped that guidance would have been issued by the Department for Transport (DfT) but nothing had been received, nor had there been any indication that guidance would be published in time to inform discussions on the matter.

The current approach of licensing drivers for one year had been reviewed and the legislation introduced an assumption that drivers’ licences would now last for three years, unless there was a reason not to.

A meeting had been held to discuss the proposed arrangements, attached as the background paper to the report. The recommendation in the paper had been supported and the new arrangements had been introduced with effect from 1 October 2015 and the information made available to applicants and licence holders on the Council’s website.

Mr Sayer referred to item number 4 of the key issues in the report dated 8 September 2015 which stated that the majority of drivers licences would be granted for 3 years however, a list of the circumstances where they might not be considered appropriate were listed under conditions A –F. It was anticipated that the majority of NCC drivers were likely to be licensed for a 3 year period.

A schedule of charges had also been developed.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

CHAIR

DATE

Ch.’s Initials………

Licensing and Regulatory Committee,28 October, 2015