Task and Finish Group Report/DfT Draft Statutory Guidance
Item raised by the Chair.
The Task & Finish group (TFG) on Taxi Licensing produced a report on 24/09/18 which contained 34 recommendations for local authorities covering a whole range of topics such as safety, accessibility, training, DBS checks and cross border hiring. Following on from this, the Government has now produced its response to that report along with draft statutory guidance for licensing authorities which will be introduced using the Policing and Crime Act 2017. The guidance will not be mandatory but the Minister (Nusrat Ghani) has indicated that she expects all licensing authorities to adopt the guidance unless there is a compelling reason for not doing so. The draft guidance is subject to a consultation period until 22nd April 2019.
The original TFG report can be found here;
The Government response to the TFG report can be found here:
The draft statutory guidance and further information on the consultation process can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/taxi-and-private-hire-vehicle-licensing-protecting-users
Minutes:
MT – Gave the group an update on were the Task and Finish Group were up to and on the new DfT statutory guidance.
MT – Stated it is at consultation stage and is trying to set minimum standards for all licensing authorities to comply with.
PMcL - Stated some of the recommendations will not work for larger licensing authorities, as it will be impractical to enforce.
MT – Agreed and he will be submitting a response on behalf of Sefton Council with comments and recommendations. He also added it’s setting the foundations for all Councils to have, at least, minimum standards.
RJ – Stated that the document is aimed for Guidance only it is not set as law for local authorities.
JJ – Asked if three-year driver licences could be made to have DBS checked every year? Three years is too long for checks not to be made.
MT- Stated that the new guidelines are recommending all driver applicants must sign up to the DBS update service and DBS checks to be carried out every 6 months. Sefton Council will try to follow what is recommended. He also stated that the guidance gives advice for on-line applications.
RJ – Mentioned the guidance on CCTV in vehicles and what was Sefton Council position on this?
MT – Stated that Sefton Council have no plans to change what is already in place and will not be making it compulsory to have CCTV in all licenced vehicles. It is down to the individual driver have it installed or not. This will give the responsibility to the driver to follow the rules governing this. They will be the data controller and it will not be Sefton Council’s responsibility.