Agenda item

The Interim Principal Licensing Officer, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the report to Members. The purpose of the report was to consider the consultation responses regarding mandatory safeguarding refresher training.

In response to the publication of the Department of Transport’s “Taxi & Private Hire Standards” the council published a new “Taxi Policy” in September 2022. The new Taxi Policy introduced the requirement for all new drivers to undertake safeguarding training. However, there was no requirement for continued refreshment to highlight changes in current safeguarding concerns and landscape, it was further detailed that those who had their licences granted prior to the new “taxi Policy” coming into effect in September 2022 may not have received any formal safeguarding training.

In October 2024, the Licencing Committee agreed for relevant consultees to be contacted on mandatory safeguarding refresher training during licence renewal for all drivers. The consultation lasted for 12 weeks and was predominantly an online exercise with responses being collated via an online portal. The list of consultees was detailed on pages 5 and 6 of the Supplementary Agenda pack.

33 responses were received with the most (28) being from licence holders, the majority of respondents (72.73%) were in objection to having mandatory safeguarding refresher training. the main reasons given by those who expanded on their reasons were around the cost and availability of the training.

In addressing the concerns, officers detailed that the course would be supplied at a cost of £20 which would be cost neutral to WRS and would take place frequently. It was explored if a subsidy should be provided, however, it was decided that the cost was modest and was seen as good value. Officers drew Member’s attention to the table at paragraph 4.5 shown on page 8 of the Supplementary Agenda pack, the table detailed the costs charged by other authorities and that £20 was equal to or lower than the other local authorities contacted, thus supporting their view that is was good value.

The following was clarified after questions from Members:

• That the cost of the course was decided after the consultation had started, therefore, some of the comments were given without that information being known.
• That the training was currently intended to all be Face-to-Face, however, the merits of putting on a remote session for refresher training were being explored.
• Translations were not considered as it was expected that a certain level of conversational English should be demonstrated to hold a licence with Redditch Borough Council and therefore translations were not deemed necessary.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificates were discussed and it was clarified that drivers were required to have a DBS certificate and subscribe to the update service as a condition for their licence. Additionally, it was detailed that all passenger assistance individuals were also required to have a valid DBS certificate.

Members stated that safeguarding training was very important and many expressed the opinion that considering the importance of the trade in identifying vulnerable individuals, training every 3 years could be deemed too infrequent to keep knowledge up to date with developments in safeguarding concerns.

It was further stated that in their opinion some of the respondents did not understand safeguarding and their responsibilities and that appropriate training could assist protecting both drivers and passengers. This was noted as being evident from the responses given in objection to the consultation.

Members questioned if the consultation was clear enough in describing its purpose, however, Officers assured members that the opening description was adequate to detail its purpose, and some misunderstanding could be detailed as Drivers either not reading the text at the start or not understanding safeguarding which could highlight the need for the training.

Members were broadly in support of safeguarding refresher training but expressed disappointment that the trade did not generally appear to support it. On being put to a vote it was:

RESOLVED that

the existing Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver Licensing Policy be amended, as detailed in appendix 2 on page 21 of the Supplementary Agenda pack.