ANNEX A - EXEMPTION CRITERIA

Background

The intention of Sections 32 - 39 of the Act is to ensure that disabled people have the same flexibility and choice in their use of licensed taxis as the rest of the travelling public. To achieve this, it is important that vehicles are designed to meet the needs of people with a wide range of disabilities, including those who need to travel in a wheelchair, and that the regulations are applied to licensed taxis throughout the country.

The Government recognises that there are widely differing types and circumstances of taxi operation in the UK, from congested inner city areas where on street hailing is common to remote rural areas where telephone bookings are the norm. The Government also recognises that the economic circumstances of taxi operators can vary widely and has no wish to pose a threat to the future viability of the trade.

For this reason, Section 35 of the Act provides that the Secretary of State may make regulations which will enable a licensing authority to apply for an order (an “exemption order”). An exemption order will exempt the authority from the taxi accessibility requirements. Once an application is made the Secretary of State will decide whether an exemption order should be granted. Before making the order he must consider the application and consult the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) and any other person or organisation he considers appropriate about it. Taxi operators cannot apply direct for exemption.

It is the Government’s intention that the underlying principles of the taxi provisions contained at Sections 32-38 of the 1995 Act should extend throughout the UK. However, while the exemption criteria introduced will extend to Scotland the handling arrangements for exemptions may well differ from those in place for England and Wales. The Scottish Office intend to explore the scope for devolving the decision making process on exemptions, in certain prescribed circumstances, to local authorities and will be consulting on this in due course. As Northern Ireland is a single licensing area there will be no area exemptions in Northern Ireland.

The regulations must be in place before any application for an exemption order can be considered. It is likely that the regulations themselves will concentrate on procedural matters; but in addition the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and The Scottish Office will publish guidelines on what issues licensing authorities might usefully address in making such applications (see Part 7).

This Annex puts forward some preliminary ideas on the approach which might be adopted. Comments would be welcome, especially on the practical workability of the suggestions.

Legal requirements

Section 35 of the 1995 Act provides that:

“a licensing authority may apply for an exemption order only if it is satisfied:-

(a) that, having regard to the circumstances prevailing in its area, it would be inappropriate for the requirements of section 34 to apply; and

(b) that the application of section 34 would result in an unacceptable reduction in the number of taxis in its area”.

It is important to stress that paragraphs (a) and (b) are joined by the word “and”; so a licensing authority must be satisfied on both points.

The evidence that would be taken into account in determining whether these factors apply is set out below.

Proposed procedures

It is proposed that the Regulations will require a licensing authority wishing to apply for an exemption order to confirm to the Secretary of State in writing that it satisfied the legal requirements set out in section 35(3)(a) and (b) have been met.

The Regulations will require a local authority to produce and make available evidence that:

(a) it had publicised its intention to make an application for an exemption, in the form of a proposal; and

(b) it had sought and considered the views and opinions of the following persons and organisations on the proposal:-

    (i) disabled people in the area and organisations representing them;

    (ii) providers of taxi and private hire vehicle services and those representing them;

    (iii) providers of other relevant transport services such as health and local authorities; and

    (iv) any other person or organisation that the authority considers appropriate.

When the proposal is publicised for consultation it must include the terms of the application. The terms of the application may include:

• the area which is to be covered by the exemption order;
• how long the circumstances prevailing and the reduction in the number of taxis in the area (which caused the licensing authority to make its decision to apply for an exemption order) will continue;
• the feasibility, if an exemption is granted, of requiring all taxis in the area to be fitted with swivel seats and other modifications to assist elderly and disabled passengers, and the period over which such a requirement could be phased in. (The presumption will be that, if an exemption from the full accessibility regulations is granted, swivel seats will become mandatory as a minimum);
• the feasibility of exempting a part of the fleet only from the full accessibility regulations, i.e. having a mixed fleet with a proportion of wheelchair accessible taxis and a proportion fitted with swivel seats etc.

Making a case for exemption

The factors that a licensing authority would need to bring together in building a case for exemption would include:

• information on existing Dial-A-Ride and Taxicard schemes;
• the number of taxis and private hire vehicles in the area, and how those numbers have changed over, say, ten years. The number of taxis and private hire vehicles now licensed in the area which are wheelchair accessible and/or fitted with swivel seats;
• the total population of the area; and the number of disabled people;
• information on taxi fares and trends in fares (over ten years);
• if the licensing authority operates a policy of restricting the number of taxis in it's area;
• the extent to which there is a demand for taxi licences (e.g. the number of applicants on a waiting list and how long they have been waiting);
• the value of taxi plates in the area if they have one;
• if the licensing authority has a policy of specifying the maximum age of taxis.

In addition to this factual information, the secretary of State would also expect the application to look at some or all of the following issues:

• Special features of the area in question. This might partly be about factors influencing demand for taxis, for example, urban/rural factors; availability of other transport services; specific sources of demand (e.g. airports; large centres of employment or entertainment), availability of ranks; factors specific to disabled people, such as hospitals, or retirement homes, or the lack of them. It could also be about factors influencing supply of taxis, for example to do with the local labour market (e.g. unemployment) and any relevant local economic factors;
• if available, evidence from experience in a comparable local authority area, for example those which have already introduced a wheelchair accessibility requirement for taxis, or had had difficulty in doing so, with an explanation of why that was considered to be relevant;
• the local licensing authority's existing and recent policies. Evidence of policy on fares, which can also influence the market, and scope for investment in new vehicles, could also be relevant;
• evidence of the balance between on-street and pre-booked taxi hirings and the capacity of taxi ranks could also be relevant;
• based on any or all of the above, if applying for an exemption after the regulations have been introduced, evidence that taxi numbers have fallen significantly, as a direct result of the requirements of the 1995 Act.

It would be open to local authorities to put forward such other information and arguments as they thought appropriate.

Please note that there will be no appeal procedure in England and Wales against the Secretary of State's refusal to grant an exemption order.

(See questionnaire D1.)