The Licensing Officer introduced the report which sought approval for participation in the national database of taxi driver licence revocations and refusals.

The Licensing Officer explained that when considering applications to become a new taxi driver in Swale, or renewal applications from an existing driver, the licensing team had two main sources of information on which to judge whether an applicant was ‘fit and proper’ within its legal definition to be licensed.  These were: a DBS check that would reveal any offence, conviction, prosecution, or caution that an applicant may have received; and the application form which asked the applicant to supply a variety of information that included whether they had ever been previously licensed elsewhere as a hackney carriage or private hire driver, and if so whether that licence had been suspended or revoked.

The Licensing Officer explained that if an applicant answered ‘Yes’ to this question, then further enquiries could be made to satisfy officers whether they were fit and proper.  However, if they answered ‘No’ then there was no way for a local authority to check whether this was an accurate statement on which to base a decision to licence an individual or not.

The Licensing Officer stated that as those Members who had sat on a Licensing Sub-Committee would be aware, making an adjudication in respect of a taxi driver, there were many circumstances which rendered an individual not ‘fit and proper’ that were not criminal by nature.  She stated that there was therefore the possibility that a Local Authority could licence someone that another authority has refused to licence or who had had their licence revoked

The Licensing Officer stated that in recognition of this, the Local Government Association, in liaison with the National Anti-Fraud Network, had developed a national register that local authorities would be able to access and search for information posted by other local authorities regarding individuals in relation to refusals and revocations of taxi licences.  Similarly the Council would be able to post the same information regarding taxi drivers in Swale.

The Licensing Officer reported that Guidance had been published to instruct Local Authorities on how to go about this process, as set out at Appendix I to the report.  The Licensing Officer stated that it was recommended that data should be retained on the register for a period of 25 years.  The Licensing Officer outlined the ways in which new applicants and existing licence holders would be made aware of the register should Members decide that Swale should participate in the registration scheme. 

The Licensing Officer further reported that whilst the Council held limited historical information on individuals who had had their licence refused or revoked, where this data was available, the individual would be written to explaining that the register affected them and that information may be uploaded to it.  An individual could request that the information was not uploaded and any request of this nature would be carefully considered before a final decision was made by the relevant Cabinet Member, Chairman of General Licensing Committee and the Resilience and Licensing Manager.

The Licensing Officer reported that other Local Authorities used the register but had not formally included it in their Policy.  The cost of being included on the national database was £1,050, but free to members of the National Anti-Fraud Network, which the Council was.

The Licensing Officer stated that this was a change in procedure that required an additional appendix to the recently adopted Swale Taxi Licensing Policy.  The proposed appendix was shown as Appendix II of the report.  As this was a major change to the taxi policy it would be necessary for it to be put out to public consultation if approved.  The consultation would run for a period of 8 weeks and be advertised on the Council website, newspaper adverts, emails, post and social media.  Officers would report back at the January 2019 meeting.

A Member thanked officers for the report, and agreed that Swale should participate with the scheme and spoke about the importance of more Local Authorities adopting the scheme, which would help to make passengers feel safe.

The Chairman hoped that Local Authorities that bordered Swale would adopt the scheme, as this would help to make it more effective in Swale.

On being put to the vote, the recommendations in the report were approved.

Resolved:

(1)  That the development of a national database of taxi driver licence revocations and refusals be noted.

(2)  That participation in the national database be approved.

(3)  That officers be instructed to carry out a public consultation exercise with a view to making an amendment to the Swale Borough Council Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Taxi Licensing Policy 2018 by the adoption of a new appendix that would allow for a process to check and update the new National Register of Taxi Licence Revocations and Refusals.

(4)  That a further report be accepted after the conclusion of the consultation period where Members could consider any comments made prior to formal adoption of the additional appendix to the Swale Borough Council Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Taxi Licensing Policy 2018.