Issue - meetings

The Chair opened the meeting and invited the Licensing and Enforcement Officer to provide a Verbal Report into the CCTV in Taxis’ Update.

The Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated that the CCTV in Taxis Policy had been fully implemented and Licensing had wanted to provide the Committee a brief overview.

Some exemption requests were submitted to the Policy, with 8 pending requests over three applications (each application will have a number of vehicles each); these 8 vehicles would need to be seen by the General Licensing Sub-Committee.

The General Licensing Sub-Committee have granted 18 exemptions to the Policy, and of those 18, 11 vehicles were with one operator. This is because there is a large executive transport livelihood in the district.

CCTV is installed in 76 of BDC’s vehicles. Pending exemptions were likely to be ongoing as BDC will receive new applications. Some applicants were also waiting for more information from Nottinghamshire County Council and Derbyshire County Council.

For review, in 2020 BDC had 174 licensed vehicles. In 2021 BDC had 122 (due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this dropped as Licensed Holders did not renew their licenses). In 2022, there were 108 licensed vehicles. In March 2023, there were 99 licensed vehicles. When completing the Report, the Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated that on the day before the Committee, there had been 102 licensed vehicles. This figure would change daily as licenses expired and new applications for licenses were made.

Some issues had been encountered with a number of school contracts – this was with Nottinghamshire County Council and Derbyshire County Council. BDC was also wating for more information from applicants to provide information, but the Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated they believed Councillors were already aware of these stumbling blocks.

The Licensing Team were also in the process of providing guidance leaflets. These would be printed out and posted shortly, and intended for inform passengers and encourage license holders on how to correctly use the system.

The Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated the Licensing Team consider the Policy had been fully implemented and did not intend to come back to the Committee with further updates.

With the Verbal Report completed, the Chair opened the Committee floor for any questions.

A Member stated that the CCTV in Taxis Policy had been devised to keep people safe, and the former General Licensing Committee had been happy to deliver this Policy and would have been happy to know it was working. The success of the Policy was testament to how forward thinking the previous Council was when it was implemented.

The Chair agreed, stating they had been made aware of some reluctance from a number of operators and drivers who had been dragged kicking and screaming to abide by the Policy, but people were reassured it was for their own safety.

The Chair thanked all those present for their work, to get the Policy in place and for the work following it up. With no more questions, the Chair asked for a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10

The Environmental Health Team Manager – Licensing, reminded Members that the policy to make CCTV mandatory in Hackney Carriages & Private Hire Vehicles had been approved by Council at its meeting held on 18th May 2022 (Minute No. CL23-22/23 refers) and that all drivers had been advised of the change to the policy which would be implemented during October 2022.  A procurement exercise had been undertaken and two suppliers had responded, however, one of the suppliers could not meet the Council’s required specification.  A supplier, 4eyez, had been contracted to provide and install the CCTV units which would cost in the region of £500 - £800 dependent on the vehicle.  Unfortunately, due to contracting issues, there had been a slight delay in implementing the policy until the end of November and all drivers had been notified accordingly.

The installation of the CCTV units was being undertaken on a rolling basis when vehicles were booked in for MoTs.  It was hoped that all vehicles would have CCTV units installed by May 2023.

Liaison was taking place with the Council’s Communications Team in order to undertake a public relations exercise in the near future to promote businesses with the CCTV.  It was also intended to provide information to drivers and businesses to assist with advising customers that CCTV was installed and the Data Protection requirements.

It was noted that some concerns had been received from taxi drivers regarding the cost of having the CCTV units installed, however, since the implementation of the policy on 28^th November 2022 the number of enquiries regarding this had reduced.

A Member queried the information provided to taxi drivers.  The Environmental Health Team Manager – Licensing, advised that it was a requirement that CCTV units be installed on renewal of vehicle licences.  Some requests for exemptions had been received and these would need to be submitted to Committee for consideration.

A Member queried the grounds for an exemption.  The Environmental Health Team Manager – Licensing, stated that some taxi drivers had raised concerns regarding affordability.  She advised that anyone applying for an exemption would need to submit a legitimate business case detailing the reasons for the application, e.g. loss of business due to confidentiality of high profile passengers.  All applications for exemptions would be submitted to Committee for consideration.

A Member asked who was responsible for advising passengers that CCTV was installed in the vehicles.  The Environmental Health Team Manager – Licensing, stated that both the businesses (when making the booking) and taxi drivers were responsible for advising passengers of the CCTV.  There was also signage placed within vehicles.

Another Member queried if grant funding was available to assist with the cost of CCTV installation.  The Environmental Health Team Manager – Licensing, responded that, unfortunately, there was no funding available at this moment in time.

A Member asked if the Procurement Team had been involved in procuring the supply of CCTV units to ensure best value for money was achieved.  The Environmental Health Team Manager –  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5