Agenda item

Members were updated on the review of the Taxi Licensing Convictions Policy. The Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy was adopted from August 2021. This policy included the relevance of convictions and other related information. In July 2020, the Department for Transport (DfT) had published the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards under the Policing and Crime Act 2017, and the assessment of convictions formed part of this statutory guidance.

A comparison had been made between the DfT’s Assessment of Previous Convictions and Surrey Heath’s existing Relevance of Convictions Policy. This led to new guidance being drafted. If approved, the guidance would be named the Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Assessment of Previous Convictions. The national assessment of previous convictions aimed to ensure there was a consistent approach to assessing both new and renewal applicant drivers.

Following discussion, a number of points were raised by Members:

·         The use of “obstruction” in section 8.2 of the report was clarified as obstruction of the Police/Justice.

·         Gendered terms regarding private hire operators should be reviewed.

·         Officers reviewed section 17 of the report regarding the use of non-conviction information, and the policy should be cross referenced with DfT guidance.

·         Acquittals were only taken into account for serious offences.

·         Complaints from the public, as set out by the DfT guidance should be clarified in the Council’s own policy. The nature of complaints was taken into account.

·         Information from the Police and DBS made up the majority of the information used to grant and revoke licences, but other sources were used. If revoked or rejected, a licensee/applicant was able to appeal the decision to the Magistrates Court.

RESOLVED that the Taxi and Private Hire Assessment of Previous Convictions, as set out at Annex A to the agenda report, be approved, subject to  amendments to Sections 8.2 and 17 to be approved by the  the Licensing Committee Chairman.