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Agenda item

Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy Review

Purpose

To provide the Sub-Committee with an opportunity to review the Draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy and to seek approval.

Recommendations

a)    That the Sub-Committee considers the revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy in ‘Annex A’; and

b)    subject to any further amendments approves the document to come into effect from 1 October 2021.

 

Minutes:

Members considered the report from the Service Leader (Licensing and Business Support) which asked them to review, and if appropriate approve, the Draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy which it was proposed would come into effect from 1 October 2021.  A copy of the draft policy was attached as Annex A to the report.

A number of background papers were also provided with the report including:

Annex B – Department for Transport (DfT) Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Standards

Annex C – Copy of Oxfordshire’s Joint Operating Framework (JOF)

Annex D – Table showing a comparison between current requirements  and the proposed requirements to ensure that the District meets the requirements from the DfT Statutory Standards

Annex E – Draft Conviction policy, enforcements and complaints policy and table of delegations

Annex F – the Council’s current Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy (April 2018)

Annex G – Institute of Licensing’s Guide to determining suitability of applicants and licensees in the hackney and private hire trades

Annex H – Copy of consultation responses and Officer appraisal

The Service Leader (Licensing and Business Support) explained that the policy had been finalised following a twelve week consultation period.  She informed the Committee that the consultation had received a small number of responses and the feedback received had been included in the final policy documents.  A copy of the responses received was attached as Annex H to the report.

 

The Chairman noted that the Council was ahead of many Local Authorities with its Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.  He also brought to the Committee’s attention the work to introduce CCTV into private hire vehicles, which was ongoing.

 

Councillors Good and Fenton asked how data protection was managed with regard to the CCTV initiative.  The Chairman advised that the response from the trade was generally positive.  The Service Leader (Licensing and Business Support) informed the Committee that the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) had provided guidance documents on this.  She added that the Council would need to complete a full data impact assessment and this was ongoing work for future implementation.

 

Having considered the report and having received clarification from the officers present, the Committee.

 

RESOLVED that the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy be adopted and the policy would come into effect from 1 October 2021.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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