Agenda item

The Committee considered a report providing an update in relation to two recently published documents which affect Hackney Carriage and Private Hire licensing. 

Carmarthenshire’s licensing policies and conditions relating to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicles, Drivers and Operators have been in place for a number of years. With new statutory standards published by the Department for Transport (DfT) along with new recommendations published by the Welsh Government, it was proposed that Carmarthenshire

Council review its policies and conditions to incorporate these new standards and recommendations.

In July 2020 the DfT published Statutory Taxi & Private Hire Vehicle

Standards with the focus on protecting children and vulnerable adults. The DfT stated that, following a detailed consultation it was clear that there was a consensus that common core minimum standards are required to better regulate the taxi and private hire vehicle sector.

The DfT standards have effect in Wales even though the responsibility for taxi and private hire vehicle policy has been devolved to the Welsh Government. However, should the Welsh Government introduce legislation to regulate on these matters, the DfT standards would cease to apply.

In March 2021, the Welsh Government published the Harmonisation of Taxi and Private HireVehicle Licensing in Wales. This document follows the Welsh Government’s white paper ‘Improving Public Transport’ published in 2018. The aim of the recommendations contained in the document was to provide ‘quick fixes’ to improve the consistency of licensing standards and increase public safety across Wales. The recommendations formed the basis for further development by Welsh Government into national standards.

Five reasons were outlined by Welsh Government to adopt the recommendations, public safety being the first. The public should be able to expect a licensed driver to be competent, honest, safe and trustworthy. There have been numerous reports in recent years in other parts of the country involving child exploitation which have made it clear that weak and ineffective

arrangements for taxi licensing in England and Wales left the public at risk.  These new recommendations hoped to rectify this by improving public safety across Wales. This also included the safety of vehicles, along with improving the standards set for private hire operators. Other reasons for adopting the recommendations included better consistency of standards across Wales, harmonised enforcement, increased accessibility of vehicles in Wales and better standards of customer service.

It was therefore proposed that the taxi policies be included in one large document encompassing all the other supplementary polices and conditions that related to taxi and private hire licensing. This would hopefully simplify matters for applicants and licensees as all the necessary documents would be

available in one place.

The DfT statutory standards and the Welsh Government’s Harmonisation of Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing recommendations will bring about many changes to the Authority’s current Policies.

In summary, the main changes were as follows:-

Drivers

·         Requirement for drivers to join the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) and have a DBS check every 6 months;

·         Adopting the Welsh Government’s Driver Code of Conduct;

·         Updating the Private Hire Driver Conditions in line with the Welsh Government’s recommendations;

·         Group 2 Medical Standard;

·         Adopting the IOL Convictions Policy.

Vehicles

·         Requirement for vehicle proprietors to have an annual DBS check.

·         Overseas criminal record check;

·         Adopting the Welsh Government’s policy on CCTV and Video Point of Impact Systems (VIPS) / Dash Cams in taxis and private hire vehicles;

·         Impose the Welsh Government’s recommendations for accessibility conditions on vehicle proprietors of taxis and private hire vehicles.

General

·         To commit to reviewing Statement of Taxi Policy every 5 years in accordance with the DfT’s Statutory Standards;

·         Standardised application forms across Wales.

It was noted that further report with an updated Taxi Policy would be presented to Committee in due course, prior to consultation with interested parties.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the update report be noted.