The Committee agreed to elect Councillor Mary Clarkson as Chair for the Council Year 2015/16.

The Committee agreed to elect Councillor Colin Cook as Vice-Chair for the Council Year 2015/16.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Lloyd-Shogbesan.

There were no declarations of interest.

To establish Sub-Committees for the 2015-16 Council Year to deal with the casework flowing from the Committee’s own responsibilities.

Recommendations: The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:-

1.    establish a Hackney Carriages and Private Hire Licensing Sub-Committee for the Council Year 2015-16, agree its powers and duties and appoint members to it on the basis of political balance;

2.    establish a Licensing and Registration Sub-Committee for the Council Year 2015-16, agree its powers and duties and appoint members to it on the basis of political balance;

3.    agree that substitution is permitted on the two sub-committees but that substitutes must be from the Committee itself.

The Head of Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) that established Sub-Committees for the 2014-15 Council Year; to deal with the casework flowing from the Committee’s own responsibilities.

The Committee resolved to:

1.    Establish a Hackney Carriages and Private Hire Licensing Sub-Committee for the Council Year 2015-16, agree its powers and duties, to appoint Cllrs Clarkson, Cook and Royce to it on the basis of political balance and that the meetings of the Hackney Carriages and Private Hire Licensing Sub-Committee would begin at 5.00 pm, with the exception of the meeting to be held on 1 June 2015 which would start at 5.30pm;

2.    Establish a Licensing and Registration Sub-Committee for the Council Year 2015-16, agree its powers and duties, to appoint Cllrs Clarkson, Coulter, Royce and Wolff to it on the basis of political balance and that the meetings of the Licensing and Registration Licensing Sub-Committee would begin at 5.00 pm;

3.    Agree that substitution is permitted on the two sub-committees but that substitutes must be from the General Purposes Committee itself.

The Head of Environmental Development has submitted a report which informs Committee of the progress made by the Taxi Licensing Function during the 2014/15 Council year.

Officer Recommendation: That the Committee note the contents of the report and make any comments or recommendations regarding the future work of the Taxi Licensing Function.

The Head of Environmental Development submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which informed the Committee of the progress made by the Taxi Licensing Function during the Council Year 2014/15.

The Licencing Team Leader presented the report and made the following points: 

·       the overall level enforcement activity was similar to last year although there had been a slight reduction in the number of drivers caught during Test Purchase Operations, owing to the problems in finding additional staff prepared to work such anti-social hours when the offences were most likely to occur.

·       in 2015/16 the Licencing Team would continue to focus on enforcement operations and set up additional operations that would target the 2am – 4am non-compliant issues;

·       in 2015/16 the Licencing Team would be addressing the problems associated with out-of-district Hackney Carriages working in the city and a report on this issue would be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee;

·       the safeguarding strategy for the Hackney Carriage & Private Hire licensing function devised by the Licensing Manager and the Community Safety Safeguarding Officer is to be adopted by all of our neighbouring authorities, and is being seen as the benchmark for other authorities to work to;

·       there had been no progress on Law Commissions proposals to modernise the Taxi and Private Hire legislation.

The Committee congratulated the Licencing Team and the Community Safety Team on the successful implementation of the safeguarding scheme for the Hackney Carriage & Private Hire licencing function.

The Committee resolved to NOTE the contents of the report.         

Minutes from 27 January 2015

Recommendation: That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2015 be APPROVED as a true and accurate record.

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2015 as a true and accurate record.

The Committee noted the dates of the future meetings:

14 September 2015

26 January 2016

19 May 2016