Agenda item

The Principal Officer (Licensing), WRS presented the report and in doing so

drew Members’ attention to page 46 of the main agenda pack and informed

Members that in 2021 a review of all of the Council’s hackney carriage and

private hire licensing policies was undertaken in response to the publication by

the Department for Transport of guidance under section 177 of the Policing and

Crime Act 2017 entitled “Statutory Taxi & Private Hire Standards.” This work

had resulted in the production of a new draft hackney carriage and private hire

licensing policy, which the Council implemented in September 2022.

As part of the changes implemented in September 2022 the Council introduced a ‘Competency Certificate’ which all ‘new’ drivers were required to undertake. This certificate comprised of training on safeguarding, disability, equality, and many other aspects of training deemed necessary in order to apply for a new licence.

Anyone licensed prior to September 2022 and who continued to apply to renew their licence were only asked to undertake safeguarding training on a voluntary basis. This had in effect created an uneven playing field.

In 2018 licensing officers worked with partners across Worcestershire and offered a programme of child exploitation training (CSE) for all taxi drivers free of charge but on a voluntary basis. The take up of this training across the County was around 75%, which was very positive.

Many neighbouring authorities and local authorities across the country used the implementation of the statutory standards as an opportunity to implement mandatory safeguarding training for their licence holders.

Officers believed that the safeguarding module of the current training program for new drivers should be rolled out to all drivers including existing licensed drivers that had not undertaken the competency certificate.

The proposal that officers believed would cause the least disruption to drivers and be the most efficient way to implement, was set out in a draft revised extract from the Council’s current Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report, which stated:-

‘With effect from 1st April 2025 each time a licence holder renews their licence they must undertake safeguarding training delivered by the Council’s approved training provider prior to submitting their renewal application’.

Officers would therefore undertake a consultation with relevant stakeholders and the public on whether to introduce a requirement, as detailed in the preamble above, with regards to mandatory safeguarding training.

A brief discussion followed whereby Members commented that this was a really good idea to take forward.

The Principal Officer (Licensing), WRS responded to questions from the Committee and explained that it was the responsibility of neighbouring authorities to implement safeguarding training for their licence holders.

The ‘Competency Certificate’ training was offered in English only.  In order to obtain the Worcestershire Taxi and Private Hire Competency Certificate, a person must demonstrate they possessed a suitable level of skills, knowledge and understanding in the English language proficiency, both spoken and written.  This requirement was highlighted in the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.

RESOLVED that

a)    officers undertake a consultation with relevant stakeholders and the public on whether to introduce a requirement that takes effect from 1 April 2025, that all those who hold a licence issued by the Council authorising them to drive hackney carriage and / or private hire vehicles have to undertake mandatory safeguarding awareness training before renewing their licences; and

b)    the responses received to the consultation be presented to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee.