Agenda and minutes

County Councillors R. Edwards, D. Evans and F. Taylor.

None.

18^th October 2016

The minutes from the meeting held on the 18^th October 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

The Committee received a report to consider a policy for the suspension of Hackney Carriage / Private Hire Drivers and Operators licences who have not conducted Safeguarding Training.

Key Issues

1. At the Licensing and Regulatory Committee on 22nd March 2016 Members approved the Monmouthshire County Council’s Taxi and Private Hire Policy and Conditions 2016, which came into force on 1st April 2016. This Policy included the following condition.

All drivers and operators (including existing licence holders) will be required to attend a training session on safeguarding children and vulnerable persons. The training session will cover the conduct and responsibilities of those licensed and in particular will provide training in identifying when vulnerable people are in need of protection and how to ensure they are taken to a place of safety and the appropriate reports are made to the police and social services. The training provider must be approved by the LA. A certificate must be submitted to MCC LA as confirmation that the training has been conducted. Certificates will only be accepted by training providers approved by the LA. New applicants will be required to conduct the training at their own expense prior to submitting an application. Drivers and Operators licensed (new and renewal applicants) between 1st April 2015 – 31st March 2016, will be required to conduct this training within 9 months, commencing 1st April 2016. All drivers and Operators will be required to conduct refresher training and submit the required certificate as confirmation the training has been conducted prior to submitting a renewal application.

2. The Authority recognised it was essential that all those involved in the Taxi and Private Hire trade should undergo safeguarding training in order to protect children and vulnerable adults. On reaching its decision it also referred to the Louise Casey report whereby the ruling asked whether Rotherham Council took sufficient steps to ensure public safety and avoid child exploitation. This Council did not want to receive any similar criticism and felt it necessary to introduce a condition to make safeguarding training mandatory for those holding a licence.

3. Those licence holders referred to in 3.1 above, who have not conducted the safeguarding training by 31st December 2016, have clearly breached their licence conditions. Reminders were issued by the Licensing Section on 23rd March 2016, 20th June 2016 and 28th October 2016 to those licence holders, which outlined the requirement to conduct the safeguarding training as a condition of their licence by 31st December 2016. There has been two training sessions per month since April 2016. From April – December a total of 18 training sessions were available from Torfaen Training, the training providers approved by this Authority to conduct the safeguarding training.

4. It is recognised that those licence holders who have not conducted the safeguarding training may have found it difficult to conduct training during the

December period with the lead up to Christmas. There are currently 41 drivers who have not conducted this training before the 31st December 2016. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Chairman welcomed the applicant to the meeting and introduced Members of the Committee and the attending Officers and explained the protocol for the meeting.

The applicant confirmed their name and address to the Committee. The applicant confirmed receipt of the report.

The key issues and details were read out to the Committee.

The applicant was then given the opportunity to address the Committee, to put forward any relevant explanations. Following this, Members of the Committee put forward questions to the applicant and discussion ensued.

Following questioning, officers and the applicant left the meeting to allow the Committee the opportunity to deliberate and discuss the findings.

Upon re-commencement, the Chairman advised that the Committee had considered the issues and had unanimously voted to issue a severe written warning to the applicant on account of non-disclosure.