Apologies were received from Councillor Hibbert, Councillor Muston and West Midlands Police.

There were no declarations of interest.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 6 June 2018 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

There were no matters arising.

None.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 15 June 2018 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 26 June 2018 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 29 June 2018 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 18 July 2018 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 25 July 2018 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 24 August 2018 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

[To receive a verbal update by police representatives in relation the Licensing Act 2003 – Review of Cumulative Impact Policy report]

This item was deferred and will be rescheduled for a future meeting of the Committee.

Will Humphries, Service Lead, Environmental Health, presented a report asking Members to:

1. Approve the proposed Health & Safety Statutory Plan 2018/19.

A wide-ranging debate followed, and Officers agreed to take the none licensing based comments for the relevant department to respond.

Resolved:

That Members of the Licensing Committee:

1. Approved the proposed Health & Safety Statutory Plan 2018/19.

Chris Howell, Licensing Manager, presented a report asking Members to:

1. Approve the proposed change to the private hire vehicle replacement process.

Resolved:

That Members of the Licensing Committee:

1. Approved the proposed change to the private hire vehicle replacement process.

Chris Howell, Licensing Manager, presented a report asking Members to:

1. Agree the proposed amendments to the Guidelines Relating to Relevance of Convictions and Breaches of Licence Conditions relating to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Proprietors and Drivers and Private Hire Vehicle Operators should be the subject of a consultation exercise.

2. Request that employees undertake a consultation exercise.

3. Receive a further report following completion of the consultation exercise.

4. Note that the proposed amendments have been subject to an internal consultation with employees.

In response to questions asked, the Licensing Manager and Sarah Hardwick, Senior Solicitor, confirmed that when developing the proposed amendments, the current standards had not been lowered.

Resolved:

That Members of the Licensing Committee:

1. Agreed the proposed amendments to the Guidelines Relating to Relevance of Convictions and Breaches of Licence Conditions relating to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Proprietors and Drivers and Private Hire Vehicle Operators should be the subject of a consultation exercise.

2. Requested that employees undertake a consultation exercise.

3. Agreed to receive a further report following completion of the consultation exercise.

Noted that the proposed amendments had been subject to an internal consultation with employees.

Chris Howell, Licensing Manager, presented a report asking Members to note:

1. That the driver training programme would include modern slavery.

2. The duration of the course would be extended to include the extra training requirements.

Nigel Todd, Senior Driver Training Instructor, Worcestershire County Council, presented the modern slavery training material to Members and answered any questions they had.

Members welcomed the inclusion of modern slavery within the training programme and the Licensing Manager and Senior Driver Training Instructor welcomed Members to attend a future session.

Resolved:

That Members of the Licensing Committee noted:

1. That the driver training programme would include modern slavery.

2. The duration of the course would be extended to include the extra training requirements.