Agenda item

Report of the Revenues Manager attached.

The Committee considered the report of the Revenues Manager which provided an explanation of the origins of the Implementation Plan; its development over the past year; and a year-end assessment of progress since the inception of the Plan in March 2017. 

The Committee was pleased to note that steady incremental progress had been made in implementing the Implementation Plan over the past 12 months.  Collectively, officers and members had worked hard to arrive at the point where the overwhelming majority of actions could now be identified as complete (76%) with a further 15% in progress.  The 3 items still to be commenced were all resource-intensive and their implementation would require a full-time manager to be in post.  Given resource constraints, this was a commendable effort which had led to the introduction of more robust administrative procedures and a safer environment for local residents. 

During the discussion, the Committee’s comments/enquiries included the following areas:

• Implementation Plan – the Licensing Service at the time was processing applications on a daily basis but there was very little undertaken in terms of proactive enforcement. Some elements of improvement included the update of the Convictions/Licensing Policies and formal engagement with the taxi trade.

• Lessons learnt – there was a new robust assertive Convictions Policy which allowed the Council to take into account soft intelligence; the new Licensing Policy enabled the General Licensing Committee to require new applicants to undergo safeguarding training before they were issued with a licence; increased support for vulnerable people using taxis; and the governance process being streamlined to allow separate hearing panels to take place to consider cases and to bring the process in line with best practice.
• What next after implementation – this was the start of the journey. The Licensing Service could not afford to stay still as it was always evolving. A new full Licensing Manager would be in place shortly and plans were in place for the licensing function to be relocated to Legal Services. Some of the major issues to be addressed in 2018/19 included mandatory cctv in taxis; implementing a wide range of reviews into the Gambling Policy; and implementing an operator’s accreditation scheme.
• Will there be another peer challenge – there are no plans for this at present however there was a proposal that the Licensing Service should be included on the internal audit plan for 2018/19. There were no National Accreditation for Licensing Service.
• Resource constraints – the Council was currently in the process of the recruitment of the new licensing manager. Three full time equivalent would be sufficient to move the service forward and to build on the good work.

• Leading the team – there were only three actions outstanding on the Plan at present and it was envisaged that once the full time Licensing Manager was recruited these actions would be progressed very quickly.

RESOLVED (Unanimously):

That:

1.    the Council assesses the future resource requirements of the service.

2.    the Committee expresses concern about the potential vacant Licensing Manager post and delay in recruiting to this important post.

3.    consideration be given to us lobbying the Local Government Association (LGA) and Licensing Associations how we measure success to develop a National Standard and Quality Accreditations.