Issue - meetings

Members discussed a report which presented a revised draft policy on convictions and other relevant considerations for Members to consider and amend as necessary, after which Officers would then undertake consultation with the trade and other relevant stakeholders.

The Department for Transport published its Statutory Standards for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Vehicles in the summer of 2020 and the expectation of the Government was emphasised throughout the document in bold.

Blackburn with Darwen’s current policy was agreed across the ten Greater Manchester licensing authorities and Blackburn with Darwen in 2012, as part of the Public Protection Partnership in place at that time.

The rehabilitation periods detailed in the Statutory Standards and the Institute of Licensing’s (IOL) suitability guidance had been compared to the existing policy and were summarised in a table in the report.

In order to incorporate the Government’s clearly expressed minimum standards when considering the offending behaviour of applicants and licensees, the existing policy had been comprehensively redrafted to align it to the recommendations in the Statutory Standards in respect of criminal offences and the additional elements that featured in the IOL’s 2018 guidance.

Once adopted, Members had to have regard to the revised policy when determining private hire and hackney carriage applications and reviews.

Members discussed the draft policy, feeding back their views on the proposed changes to the rehabilitation periods for offences, and were asked to feedback these views to the Licencing Team following the meeting.

Officers confirmed that the consultation exercise would involve both taxi drivers and operators, as well as other users and agencies, and that social media and texts would be used to help ensure that all taxi drivers were aware of the consultation exercise.

The results of the consultation exercise would be fed back to the July meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED –

1. That Members feedback on their views/amendments to the contents of the draft policy be noted and that any further comments be fed back to officers.

2. That the Principal Licensing Officer is directed to undertake a six week public consultation exercise.

3. That the outcome of the consultation exercise is reported back to the next scheduled meeting of the Licensing Committee.