Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Andrea Baughan, Tony Green, Caroline Jones, Nabeela Rana, Jonathan Rush, Derek Town and Jocelyn Towns.

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Andrea Baughan, in her absence, who had recently joined the Committee to replace Cllr David Watson.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 1 February 2023.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 1 February 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

The Committee received a report on Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Fees and Charges.  The report sought the approval of proposed fee levels, attached at Appendix A of the report, following the full consultation process, including required statutory advertising. If approved, the proposed fees and charges would take effect on the 24 April 2023.

Taxi and private hire licensing fees could only be set at levels to recover such costs as were prescribed in law. The Council could not make a profit from licence fees and any shortfall in revenue, if not met by licence fee payers, must be borne by the Council as a whole. In practice, this meant that the costs of the Service should ideally be covered entirely by taxi licensing fee income into the Council. Any surplus or deficit must be carried forward and form part of any subsequent review of fees.

Taxi and private hire fees and charges were last approved in July 2021 as part of the implementation of a new Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy for Buckinghamshire, which came into effect in September 2021. The Licensing Service also went through the Better Buckinghamshire programme in 2021 and new structures for a harmonised Licensing Service, organised by specialism rather than geographical location, came into effect from the 1 September 2021. This created a single taxi and private hire licensing service serving the whole of Buckinghamshire and operating under the new Policy.

Since September 2021, the Taxi Licensing service had delivered Policy changes, as well as improvements in systems and processes, which had required significant resource to deliver. The service had also moved to a single back-office system and redesigned the way that the service was provided. Having undertaken significant implementation and improvement work, the service was now stable and operating in a business as usual fashion.

The changes had included implementation of the Department for Transport (DfT) Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards, which were introduced in July 2020 and aimed to protect children and vulnerable adults from exploitation. The Statutory Standards introduced significant additional requirements for local authorities carrying out taxi and private hire licensing functions. Government was clear at the time of introduction that it was anticipated that local authorities would seek to cover the costs of these additional requirements from driver licence fees.

Following a full budget review of the taxi and private hire licensing service between September and December 2022, the Committee received a report on the budget position for taxi and private hire licensing at the meeting of the 1 February 2023. This report advised that the 2022/23 end of year forecast budget position was an overspend position of £100k. Vacancies within the service had been proactively managed over several months relative to the ongoing budget forecast position and as a result there was a 13.5% forecast underspend on employee costs over the 2022/23 period of £131k. However, application income into the services was 19.8% lower than anticipated and therefore the underspend on employee costs did not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The licensing of animal related activities was complex and was governed by highly prescriptive statutory provisions and comprehensive statutory and non-statutory guidance. In accordance with the Animal Welfare Act 2006, Buckinghamshire Council, in its role as Licensing Authority, was responsible for licensing operators of businesses carrying out prescribed activities involving animals. In addition, the Council was also responsible for licensing keepers of animals, that were defined as dangerous wild animals and for the licensing of zoos.

There was currently no animal licensing policy, covering the Buckinghamshire Council area. Whilst there was no statutory requirement for a policy under any of the legislation relating to these types of licence, it was considered appropriate to produce a single policy which sets out a clear and consistent framework for the Council’s approach to animal licensing. The adoption of a policy supported the Council’s commitment to transparency, fairness and openness when determining applications and ensuring compliance with the relevant legislation.

The draft Animal Licensing Policy, attached at Appendix 1 of the report, provided guidance on the various application processes, a brief overview of relevant legislation and links to statutory guidance. The legislation and regulations under which animal licences were issued required the Council to determine, among other factors, whether the applicant was suitable or in the case of The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 “fit and proper” to hold a licence. Whilst there was no legal definition of “fit and proper” in the regulations, the Policy provided an opportunity to outline matters which the Council would take into consideration when deciding if someone was suitable to hold a licence.

As well as the need to comply with the different statutory licensing requirements, it was of public interest to ensure the general safety and wellbeing of animals, those responsible for them and members of the public who might come into contact with them. The adoption of a Policy would also give the Council an opportunity to set out its expectations around safeguarding for operators of businesses whose activities take place around children and vulnerable persons.

If approved by the Committee and subject to any suggested amendments, the draft Animal Licensing Policy would undergo a six-week public consultation process with all relevant stakeholders being notified, including affected licence holders, Ward, Town and Parish Councillors, Community Boards, Thames Valley Police, Veterinary inspectors and Local Government Animal Welfare Group.

Following the consultation process, a further report would be presented to this Committee providing full details of any comments received and amendments proposed as a result.

Members were invited to ask questions of officers. In response to a question regarding how many officers were involved with the licensing of animal related activities and whether the license fees covered the staffing costs, officers advised that there were 2.5 full time equivalent animal officer posts and that the fees had been set to cover the costs of these posts.  It was noted that the licensing of animal related activities was a very specific area of licensing,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

17 May 2023 – Election of Chairman

18 July 2023 – TBC at Annual Full Council on 17 May 2023

It was noted that the date of the next meeting was Wednesday 17 May 2023 for the Election of Chairman and Wednesday 14 June 2023 to transact business.