Town Hall, St. Helens, Merseyside, WA10 1HP
Telephone: 01744 676106
(Miss KM Dunne)
Agenda
LICENSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
COMMITTEE
Date:
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Time:
5.30 pm
Venue:
Room 10
Membership
Lab 13 Councillors
CD Banks (Chairman), Ayres, J Banks, Bell, Cunliffe,
De'Asha, Dyer, Fulham, Gomez-Aspron, J Jackson,
J Johnson, Lynch and McDonnell
LD
Haw
1 Councillor
Con 1 Councillor
Jones
Co-opted (Non- Voting)
Representative of Merseyside Police
Item
5.
Title
CSE & Licensing in St. Helens
Page
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Licensing and Environmental Protection Committee
18 March 2015
WARDS
All wards
Licensing in St. Helens and Child Sexual Exploitation
1.
Purpose
1.1 To update members on the Rotherham report, its impact on this area and
the work being done to address the issues and risks around child sexual
exploitation (“CSE”).
1.2 The recent high profile CSE cases in Rotherham and other areas and the
involvement of taxis and evening/late night refreshment premises in some
instances has been well documented. There is a need for local
authorities to examine their own methods of working and to assess what,
if anything, needs to be considered when delivering these services.
1.3 The purpose of this paper is to update Members on the current situation in
St. Helens and to consider:
a) The current methods in place when licensing a taxi or late night
refreshment establishment
b) The role of Policies and Enforcement
c) Working Together with our partners and the community
d) Communication Channels
2.
St. Helens Licensing
2.1
St. Helens operates a strong application process for licensing and already a
significant amount of documentation is collected as part of the application
process both for taxis and premises.
These include production of:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
2.2
Driving Licence (and counterpart with corresponding date)
Medical Certificate of fitness
DBS check
Verification of address
Knowledge Test
3 forms of identification
Passport
It is prudent to take this opportunity to review the systems the Council has in
place to ascertain if more can be included. With this in mind, a review of the
existing process, along with the accompanying guidance issued, is underway.
Part of this exercise will include benchmarking with other authorities that have
been highlighted as best practice, to consider mirroring their systems.
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This may include proposals for the Committee to consider in due course such
as:
a) Introducing a ‘Good Conduct Certificate’ for those who have lived outside
the UK for more than 3 months.
b) Character reference (similar to a passport) from someone of standing
within the local community.
2.3
To be effective our processes need to be transparent, fair and give
confidence to those using the services. Clear information on our website
and within our guidance documents is crucial in establishing and reinforcing
this within the community. A similar exercise to the application system is also
underway with our provision on the Council’s website. For example,
a recent review of the complaints process for taxis has been undertaken to
make this much easier for people to raise a concern with us. This will now be
directly identified as a bespoke complaint area within the Corporate
Complaints System.
2.4
Enforcement is clearly a crucial element of Licensing. Licensing enforcement
itself falls within the Council’s Regulatory Enforcement Policy. Enforcement
is delivered currently by:
a) Management of complaints. This usually consists of a documented
interview with the driver in question. From this, further action is
considered including referral to the Committee.
b) Communication with the complainant.
c) Issue of notices when necessary.
d) Suspension of drivers.
e) Immediate revocation of a licence.
f) Referral to LEP&C for those matters considered of a serious nature.
g) Inspections and some preventative enforcement.
2.5
These measures alone are reasonable control measures but it is likely that
these will be developed further. The aim of robust enforcement is to ensure
that the message is clear, concise and delivered in partnership with the
Council’s key partners such as the Police. The message must be the Council
will only accept the very highest standards for those who use these services
within the borough. Those who fall below these standards will be dealt with in
accordance with the Council’s policies. It is proposed to introduce in the near
future:
a. Targeted and sustained enforcement of taxi and premises licensing,
in conjunction with Merseyside Police.
b. A higher profile for Licensing. This will be achieved not least through the
local media and use of social media at the Council’s disposal, but also
through planned and unannounced visits to both operators and licensed
premises.
c. Better engagement with the public and those providing the service so that
they are confident that when they approach the Council with information, it
will be acted on appropriately.
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d. A strong statement of partnership working with a range of organisations
including Merseyside Police, Public Health and other local authorities.
This will deliver a clear message that this cross-area working will enhance
the services we all currently offer.
2.6
The development of an online services offer aside from offering a much more
flexible service for our users, will in the longer term free up more staff time for
preventative enforcement. This is key to the future delivery of a robust
Licensing Service.
3.
Child Sexual Exploitation
3.1
This is clearly an important area not just for local authorities but for the
Police and other responsible bodies. In St. Helens we have chosen to
proactively adopt an intensive communication approach with our licence
holders. Whilst feeding into the pan-Merseyside Campaign for CSE, the
Licensing Manager will join the LSCB CSE Sub-Committee group to ensure
the most appropriate and effective methods of communication are used
with licence holders. A timeline is included below of
some key dates over the next couple of months of dedicated activities around
this.
5th March
Meeting to discuss bespoke development of Licensing
Campaign in St. Helens
18th March
Official launch of pan-Merseyside CSE Campaign
21st March
Joint Police and Licensing enforcement operation (taxis)
focusing on all aspects of compliance and CSE Awareness
24th March
Joint Police and Licensing meetings with Taxi Operators to
discuss the potential impact of CSE and their role
April/May
Finalise development of bespoke Licensing campaign to raise
profile of issues
Invitations to all taxi drivers to attend CSE Awareness
Sessions
Sessions delivered in May 2015 by Catch 22 (registered
charity delivering social action programmes and CSE services)
Licensing Chair to attend along with Police
High profile photo opportunity of drivers who have attended
with Licensing Chair, Police representatives to form part of
press article and St. Helens First article
Certificate for all those who attend the sessions to increase the
importance of attendance and demonstrate commitment
Public show of support for initiative, possibly by the use of
window stickers to be distributed at sessions
April/May
As above but for Licensed Premises
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4.
Legal Position - Fit and Proper Test
4.1
Members will recall from previous external training and guidance from
officers of the legal position in relation to how a Licensing Authority should
give consideration to a driver's character when considering the “fit and
proper” test. The Licensing Authority may take account of spent convictions if
done so in a fair and proportionate way. The Licensing Authority can also
consider unproven allegations that may not have resulted in any criminal
proceedings. In those circumstances, the Licensing Authority must hear from
the applicant/driver and complainants and come to its own conclusions about
what happened on the balance of probabilities.
4.2
Sometimes an applicant/driver will assert they were wrongly convicted or only
pleaded guilty to get it over with or cover for a relative, however the Licensing
Authority should not go behind the existence of the conviction. This principle
comes from case law (Farooq 1998).
4.3
Furthermore when making decisions on both applications and reviews, the
sole deciding factor should be the safety of the travelling public. In rare cases
exceptional mitigation may be relevant to assessing the risk to the travelling
public if it shows the driver acted so out of character that the misdemeanour
is unlikely to be repeated. However, the driver's personal circumstances are
not a factor to weigh in the balance against the safety of passengers. Again,
this principle comes from case law (Hussain 2002).
4.4
Naturally, an applicant/driver will wish to refer to their personal circumstances
when presenting their case to members, for example applicants/drivers often
talk about the financial hardship they may suffer if their licence were to be
refused/suspended/revoked. However as detailed above, the Courts have
held that this is a separate issue to public safety and is not a relevant matter.
4.5
Members may also be aware that the recently published report into issues at
Rotherham Borough Council was very critical of the actions of the Licensing
Authority. In particular, there was criticism that "the licensing service seemed
more geared towards facilitating the trade than protecting the public" and
there was a "perception of undue weight being given to the need to protect
drivers' livelihoods over and above the safety of the public".
5.
Conclusion
5.1
Whilst no approach will cover all eventualities and eliminate all risk, it is
envisaged that by raising the profile of enforcement, alongside the CSE
agenda, that there will be a greater impact on those with responsibilities in
these areas and the wider community.
6.
Previous Approval/Consultation
6.1
None
7.
Anti-Poverty Implications
7.1
Nil.
8.
Recommendations
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8.1
The Committee are asked to note this report.
Angela Sanderson
Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Administrative Services)
The contact officer for this report is Lorraine Simpson, Civic Events, Licensing and Land
Charges Manager, Chief Executive’s Department, Wesley House, St. Helens, WA10 1HF.
Telephone St. Helens (01744) 675349.
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