ALL THINGS LICENSING
Article by Mike Smith, Senior Specialist for Licensing and Community Safety at Guildford Borough Council and Vice-Chair of the Institute of Licensing South East Region.
Please note that this article represents my own views which are not presented as the views of the Institute of Licensing or Guildford BC.
Damning
Perhaps the only word to sum up the latest report into historical Child Sexual Exploitation led by Baroness Louise Casey, who members of the trade may recall authored previous reports into failings at Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council in 2015. These led to many authorities adopting more rigorous standards for drivers, including mandatory safeguarding awareness training for all licence holders.
The initial report into Rotherham MBC also identified the taxi and private hire trade as a means by which children can be at risk of sexual exploitation, both as a way to traffic victims to different locations as well as a potential way for perpetrators to meet their victims. Even drivers who were not complicit in committing abuse were trafficking young people subject to exploitation to different locations; sometimes in the knowledge that this was taking place or sometimes not picking up telling signs that something was wrong.
The latest report, commissioned by the Prime Minister in January to examine existing data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse was published on 16 June and pulls no punches in its criticism of failings; leading the PM to perform a ‘U-turn’ on his previous decision not to set up a National Enquiry into the matter.
The report reviewed how public institutions, such as local authorities and police, have responded to group-based child sexual exploitation. Focusing on the taxi related part of the report, indeed a whole chapter is dedicated to the subject of the link between taxi licensing and abuse. Clearly the number of failings in areas, in addition to Rotherham, show how perpetrators have exploited weaknesses in the current system of setting and enforcing standards within the taxi trade.
56
The report finds that there some authorities, especially those with previous exposure to group- based exploitation cases, who have gone beyond guidance setting statutory minimums to implement stricter controls. However the report concludes that these are being undermined by a less robust approach
elsewhere. The most serious issue
identified is the ability for drivers to be licensed in one area but operate in another, making it difficult for local councils to enforce their own safeguarding standards, and risks allowing unsuitable individuals to work under the radar.
Rotherham, for example, has introduced taxi cameras and stringent safeguarding training. My own authority, Guildford, has introduced a livery for hackney carriages, giving the public confidence that they are stepping into a licensed vehicle driven by a professionally trained, licensed driver who has not only completed safeguarding training but also a vocational qualification equipping them with the skills and knowledge required for the role. Guildford also has cameras in vehicles to provide reassurance to both driver and passenger.
However, if drivers from other authorities do not need to meet these standards, then the system of protection becomes unstuck with the report stating that these efforts by some councils have been hindered by more lax approaches in other areas, and ‘legal loopholes’ which mean drivers can apply for a licence anywhere in the country but then operate in another area.
The report produces 12 recommendations, with one specifically relating to taxi licensing calling for this loophole to be closed immediately and for more rigorous licensing standards to be introduced.
The report calls on the Department for Transport to urgently close the out of area working ‘loophole’ and set higher, standardised requirements for taxi licensing across all local authorities. It argues that current arrangements are not fit for purpose and hinder efforts to protect children from individuals and organised gangs performing sexual abuse and exploitation.
Baroness Casey concludes that, while some councils have recognised the safeguarding role taxi licensing can play, the current legislative position creates
JULY 2025 PHTM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
