A report setting out the implications of the Department for Transport’s Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards guidance and the Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022, and seeking the approval of the Committee to consult with the hackney carriage and private hire vehicle trade on an updated Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Convictions Policy.

The Committee received a report following a review of the implications of statutory guidance published by the Department for Transport in July 2020 on Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards for hackney carriages (taxis) and private hire vehicles (PHVs). As part of the review the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Convictions Policy had been assessed and updated against the standards.

The report set out a proposal for the way by which the requirements of the statutory standards would be implemented by the Council and asked the Committee to approve an updated version of the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Convictions Policy to go out to consultation with the hackney carriage and private hire vehicle trade.

The report explained that Licensing Officers had conducted a full assessment of the current position compared with the requirements of the statutory standards. A table summarising the results had been included within the report and a copy of the full results had been attached to the report at Appendix 1.

The report explained that the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Convictions Policy had been assessed and updated to align the Council’s policy with the DfT’s recommendations relating to the assessment of previous convictions. A copy of the updated Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Convictions Policy 2023 was attached to the report at Appendix 2. The policy had been strengthened and placed an emphasis on passenger safety as the priority while also enabling past offenders to sufficiently evidence that they had been successfully rehabilitated so that they might obtain a licence. A comparison showing the changes that had been made to the existing Convictions Policy had also been attached to the report at Appendix 3.

The report also set out the implications of the Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022 which placed a further duty on licensing authorities to share, consider and act upon relevant information relating to safeguarding and road safety concerns about taxi and private hire drivers. The report explained that the Council must have regard to the Act and the accompanying statutory guidance that had been issued on 27 April 2023. The report explained that the Act had set out timescales for dealing with matters and had added a requirement for licensing authorities to input information on to the National Register for Revocations, Refusals and Suspensions (NR3S), to inform other licensing authorities regarding any decisions made in relation to revocations, refusals, and suspensions of licenses. The report explained that the requirements of The Act had been implemented and that officers had been checking every license application that had been received against the NR3S database and had also been updating the database with the details of any new taxi and private hire vehicle license revocation and refusal decisions and with details of previous revocations and refusals. 

Resolved –

(1)           That the requirements of the Statutory Taxi and Vehicle Standards and the Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022 and the ongoing work to implement the measures and align current policies to the standards be noted.

(2)               That the updated Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Convictions Policy, as attached to the report at Appendix 2, be published for consultation with the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle trade, and that a further report be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee to adopt the final policy, having taken the results of the consultation into account.