Decision details

The Principal Licensing Officer reminded the Committee that Spelthorne’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy was adopted on 23 May 2017. The Policy included a draft version of the ‘Surrey-wide convictions policy’ which provides guidance for councillors and staff on how applications and licences should be treated when an applicant presents with a conviction or caution for any number of offences.

Since May 2017, the 11 Surrey Local Authorities had consulted on amendments to the draft convictions policy and the final version was proposed to replace the one currently attached to Spelthorne’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.

He also advised that the Surrey Safeguarding Children Board (SSCB) and its partners had agreed a Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Strategy and action plan, to enable Surrey Local Authorities to fulfil their statutory responsibilities to safeguard children and to promote welfare effectively.

Two actions identified within the CSE action plan to raise the standards of public safety across Surrey were to:

·         Adopt a consistent taxi and private hire convictions policy across Surrey

·         Require mandatory CSE training for all taxi and private hire drivers in Surrey

The Principal Licensing Officer finally summarised a number of minor amendments which had been identified in the Policy and included requirements for the notification of criminal convictions and various criminal proceedings, in order to bring these in line with the Surrey-wide convictions policy. He proposed that the Committee agree to delegate the Senior Environmental Health Manager, in consultation with the Licensing Committee Chairman, to make minor changes to Spelthorne’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy as and when they arose, so as to expedite the implementation of alterations which would benefit the taxi-using public by ensuring their safety. 

Members of the Committee asked questions about the costs and method of the proposed CSE training.  The Principal Licensing Officer agreed to inform councillors if further costs were incurred in implementing the training. He explained that the training was scenario based and aimed to prepare taxi and private hire drivers to recognise the signs of CSE. They would be required to produce a certificate that the training had been undertaken.

Members were concerned whether an online training module would be sufficiently effective in getting the message across and asked that the sample questions be made available to them, to enable them to comment on the training in an informed way.

Resolved to:

1.    adopt the finalised Surrey-wide convictions policy (attached as Appendix A to the report) to replace the draft version previously attached to Spelthorne’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy;

2.    approve the requirement for all existing taxi and private hire drivers to undertake mandatory CSE training by 1 May 2019, subject to more information on the method of training to be provided to the Committee;

3.    approve the requirement for all new taxi and private hire drivers to undertake mandatory CSE training from the 11 April 2018, subject to more information on the method of training to be provided to the Committee;

4.    approve all other minor amendments to the Policy and Penalty Points Scheme and

5.    agree to delegate to the Senior Environmental Health Manager, in consultation with the Licensing Committee Chairman, to make minor changes to Spelthorne’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy as and when they arise.