Agenda item - Hackney Carriage and Private Hire, Drivers, Vehicles and Operators Blue Book Review – 4th Edition

Report of the Director of Public Health (copy attached)

16.1    The Committee considered a report of the Director of Public Health which sought to review byelaws, conditions, advice and information for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers, Vehicles and Operators contained in the blue handbook (The Blue Book).

16.2    The Head of Regulatory Services, Tim Nichols, explained that the handbook was designed to combine many bye laws, conditions, advice and information for hackney carriage and private hire drivers, vehicles and operators information previously kept in various and separate forms and had first been approved by committee in February 2007. Following the publication of the Casey report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, cases of child exploitation in Oxford, Birmingham and in other cities as well as some recent cases in Brighton & Hove it had became apparent that the handbook needed revision with a greater emphasis on protecting children & vulnerable adults.

16.3    In order to address these issues, Parts A, B & C had been extensively revised. Part A now contained licensing objectives, Code of Conduct when working with vulnerable passengers, safeguarding children and vulnerable people, human trafficking and child sexual exploitation. The council was empowered in law to check for the existence and content of any criminal record held in respect of an applicant for a hackney carriage or private hire, vehicle, driver or operator licence so when submitting an application for such a licence an applicant was required to declare all convictions (whether or not spent), Cautions, Conditional Cautions, Community Resolutions, Anti Social Behaviour Orders, Criminal Behaviour Orders,County Court and High Court Injunctions, including Injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance or Fixed Penalty Notices (personally or business related), they have recorded against them, and any pending proceedings. The guidance relating to the relevance of the above types of offences when considering an application or reviewing an existing licence had also been extensively amended and brought up to date with new types of offences. Section 2.(D) 130 -145. It was intended that the revised hand book would be reproduced as a booklet and made available for all hackney carriage and private hire, drivers, proprietors and operators. It was best practice to review any policies adopted by the council every three years and the handbook would therefore next be due for review in 2018.

16.4    Councillor Moonan stated that she was happy to support the proposed amendments and hoped that thought could be given to how best to disseminate this updated document and encourage any training necessary via the trade’s representative own bodies, e.g., the Taxi Forum.

16.5    Councillor Wares considered that it was important to ensure that the Blue Book was updated as quickly as possible to seek to ensure that there were no loopholes for new operators such as Uber and that all were required to meet a common high standard.

16.6    Councillor Cobb agreed but queried whether it would be preferable to delay publication of the document in order to enable wider consultation with the public via the council’s consultation portal.

16.7    The Chair, Councillor Marsh, whilst acknowledging Councillor Cobb’s comments considered that it was important to ensure that the “Blue Book” was updated as soon as possible in order to ensure that it reflected the current focus on child protection issues and also sought to keep pace with modern technology. The Panel which had recently considered the Uber application had been mindful; that changes to this document were imminent and of the need to ensure that all operators met agreed and consistent high standards. The current document had been revised following in depth consultation with the trade and other stakeholders.

16.8    Councillor Simson who had sat at the recent Panel hearing referred to concurred in that view.

16.9    Councillor Deane commended the work which had been undertaken in preparing this updated document and stated that she supported the approach being adopted.

16.10  RESOLVED – That the Committee approve the handbook 4^th Edition of the handbook set out in Appendix A to the report.