Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Head of Public Protection which invites Members to consider a proposal to attach as a mandatory condition that all existing and new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers undertake safeguarding awareness training.

Councillor Williams had declared a personal interest in this item as Gloucestershire County Council Cabinet Lead for Safeguarding.

The Senior Licensing and Markets Officer presented his report which invited the Committee to consider a proposal to attach, as a mandatory condition, that all existing and new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers undertake safeguarding awareness training.

He noted that Members may be aware that safeguarding awareness had become an issue with the Government following high profile cases such as those in Rotherham and Derby. He anticipated that the Government may require local authorities to undertake safeguarding awareness training.

He advised that Cheltenham Borough and Stroud District Councils had recently introduced conditions requiring all of their licensed drivers to undertake safeguarding awareness training and the other local authorities in the County were also taking steps to deliver training.

He noted that training was available free of charge from Gloucestershire Safeguarding Board and Gloucester Constabulary until 31^st December 2017 and was expected to last no more than three hours.

Should the Committee decide to proceed with the proposal, the Council will consult Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers and operators for a period of six weeks.

Council Lugg was advised that it was anticipated that all licensed drivers could receive the training before the end of December and it would be delivered to groups of forty or fifty and each session was expected to take 2½ to 3 hours.

Councillor Tracey suggested that Officers should ensure that the drivers were told that the training would help them to safeguard themselves.

Councillor Pullen asked if any discussions had taken place with the Trade. The Senior Licensing and Markets Officer advised that the two Trade members he had spoken to were in favour and the other Districts in Gloucestershire were considering introducing a similar requirement.

The Chair questioned the period of validity of the training and was advised that the Secretary of State may provide guidance.

The Vice-Chair questioned the training requirements for those drivers who undertook school contracts for the County Council and he was advised that the training envisaged was in greater depth than the County Council’s current requirement.

RESOLVED that the proposal to attach a mandatory condition that all existing and new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers undertake safeguarding training be approved for consultation for a six week period.