Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest in accordance with the code of conduct

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 2022.

The committee agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 09 June 2022    were confirmed as a correct record

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chairs Urgent Buisness.

The Committee will be provided with the results of the judgement on appeal cases that went to Court.

There committee noted that there had been no appeal cases submitted since the last meeting.

The Committee having –

(a) considered the report from the Director of Public Health;

 (b) heard Graham Hooper’s (Senior Officer Intelligence and Licensing) presentation of the report which highlighted the following key areas –

Background:

·         Section 1, page 4 of the report sets out the legislative background and reason for setting fees for taxis in Plymouth.

·         Section 1.6, page 4, details the statutory procedure and timeline for this process. For further information, should members resolve to advertise the tariff as shown in Appendix 5 or an amended version, then the timeline is as follows:

o   The 14 day consultation commences on Tuesday 26 July and ends on 9 August.

o   Should objections be received these will be heard at Committee on 1 September with proposed or amended tariff commencing the day after. 

Reason for Review:

·         After a 5 year period since the tariff was previously reviewed in 2017, which was largely delayed due to the advent of Covid, members resolved to approve the new tariff at Committeeon 13 January 2022.

·         The tariff has been reviewed again at this time due to the impact of Covid and the onset of the cost of living crisis the details of which are set out in Section 2, page 5 of the report

Fare Setting Methodology

·         In accepting the last Tariff, Taxi Licensing Committee also resolved to implement a fair and robust methodology for determining future Tariffs.

·         Licensing Officers have subsequently reviewed a number of different policies from around the country and a method has been devised, set out in Appendix 2, page 11 of the report, that can be used to determine whether any fare increase is necessary and balanced.

·         If agreed this methodology will need to be kept under review and updated as the sources of information change.

Proposed Changes:

·         Section 3 page 6 of the report sets out the proposed changes and discussions that took place with representatives of the taxi trade over them.

·         The tables in this section 3.5 page 7 of the report show the proposed changes to the tariff and the table in section 3.6, page 7, shows the existing costs to the travelling public and the costs should the proposed tariff be implemented.

·         There are no proposed changes to the extra charges other than the fuel escalation surcharge. All extra charges were challenged and considered in the last review and are considered still valid and appropriate.

·         Due to the modest proposed increases across the tariff it was agreed with trade representatives to raise the fuel surcharge threshold to £1.80 per litre with further 10p for each subsequent increase of 10p per litre and that this is reviewed again during the next tariff review.

·         A balance needs to be struck between the legitimate right of the trade to a viable livelihood and the needs of the travelling public. The cost of living crisis has hit the taxi trade hard most notably through the escalating fuel costs. These costs are no longer absorbed through the existing tariff  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

The Committee having –

(a) considered the report from the Director of Public Health;

(b) heard Rachael Hind’s (Licensing Service Manager, Intelligence and Licensing) submission to the Committee to consider the report and the two options presented

The Committee raised the following key areas which included:

·         legal advice that if the delegation was granted and the Officers and nominated members of the Committee could not reach agreement, then the decision would be returned to the Committee for consideration and final decision.

·         the methodology of considering such applications was set out in the report and would be considered in detail for every case

·         the criteria would cover the largest part of the applicant’s adult life

·         A report of the number of exemptions dealt with would be noted at each Committee meeting.

The Committee agreed to adopt Option 1 in the report as amended as follows:

·         Delegate to the Strategic Director of Public Health, in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Taxi Licensing Committee and lead Taxi Licensing Committee opposition member, the authority to exempt an applicant from the requirement to produce a Certificate of Good Conduct, which would be a departure from the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 2022, where there are exceptional, clear and compelling cases to do so, as set out in the report at paragraph 11.

·         This delegation would only be for the remainder of this municipal year.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972 to exclude the press and the public from the meeting for the following items of business, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The committee agreed that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972 to exclude the press and the public from the meeting for the following items of business, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

To confirm the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 2022.

The committee agreed that the confidential minutes from the meeting on 9 June 2022 were a correct version for the record.