Lists of Accessible Taxis under S167 Equality Act 2010

The request was successful.

Dear Lewes District Council,

1) Please advise if you have produced, or currently intend to produce, a list of wheelchair accessible:
a) taxis
and
b) private hire vehicles
under the powers set out in S167 of the Equality Act 2010.

2) Please identify how many a) taxi and b) PHV drivers have applied for medical / physical impairment exemption under S166 of the Equality Act 2010 since S166 was commenced. If you've created a list under S167, please identify how many of the exemptions were in place before S167 and how many have been put in since.

3) Please state whether you voluntarily compiled a list of accessible taxis and private hire vehicles following the Department for Transport's guidance of 15th September 2010, which stated, in relation to section 167, “although the list of designated vehicles will have no actual effect in law until the duties are commenced, we would urge licensing authorities to start maintaining a list as soon as possible for the purpose of liaising with the trade and issuing exemption certificates”. If you did produce such a voluntary list, please indicate when you did so, and provide the current list.

If you have produced a list of wheelchair accessible taxis and/or private hire vehicles under S167, or are going to, please tell me the following.

4) The date the list was instated or by which you intend to do so.

5) The accessibility requirements of a taxi for it to appear on the list.

6) How you intend to enforce drivers' compliance with S165.

7) The list.

Yours faithfully,

Doug Paulley

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request which was received today
and is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

 

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Kind Regards,

 

Lewes District Council

Email: [1][email address]

 

References

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1 Attachment

Dear Mr Paulley,

Thank you for your request for information sent to us on 19 April 2017.

The answers to your questions are provided below; in addition I have attached a list of wheelchair accessible vehicles as requested. If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the Licensing Section on 01273 471600 or email [email address].

1) a) & b) YES
2) a) & b) Lewes District Council has not awarded any Medical Exemption Certificates.
3) Lewes District Council voluntarily produced a list of wheelchair accessible vehicles to assist our residents.
4) June 2015
5) All wheelchair accessible vehicles are put onto the list (Drivers consent has been taken in relation to the contact details)
6) A mailshot will be going out in May (this was intended to go out in March) to advise about the change in legislation. Lewes District Council undertake ad-hoc mystery shopping exercises throughout the year, with one planned in June to check compliance with assistance dogs; it is likely a similar will be undertaken in the future with a wheelchair user.
7) Please see the document attached

I hope this answers your question satisfactorily. If, however, you are unhappy with the way the District Council has handled your request you may ask for an internal review. In the first instance you should email [Lewes District Council request email] within 40 Working Days stating your reasons for a review.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you then have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
FOI/EIR Complaints Resolution, Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
email: [email address]
web: ico.gov.uk
telephone: 01625 545745 or 0303 123 1113

You are allowed to use any information obtained via Freedom of Information requests for non-commercial purposes such as research, private study, reviews and news reporting. However, in many cases, this information will be protected by the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 and/or the regulations relating to the re-use of public sector information. If it is your intention to copy the information for commercial purposes or re-use it then you should apply to the Council for permission at [Lewes District Council request email] The Council will then advise you whether the information is subject to copyright and/or available for re-use and if necessary provide you with a licence.

Yours faithfully,
Tracey Wallace

Information Governance Officer
Lewes District Council
[email address]

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Doug Paulley left an annotation ()

They meant "no", they don't hold a list, apparently.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...

I said
'This calls into question your response to my earlier FOI. On 19th April
2017, I asked Lewes Council:
"1) Please advise if you have produced, or currently intend to produce, a
list of wheelchair accessible:
a) taxis
and
b) private hire vehicles
under the powers set out in S167 of the Equality Act 2010."
'On 24th April you responded:
"1) a) & b) YES"
'Please advise me: was that information inaccurate to the point of being
diametrically opposed, such that the answer should have been "1) a) & b)
NO"? Please confirm.'

They responded:

'I have been advised that, at the time of the response on 19 April 2017, Lewes District Council did not hold a list of wheelchair accessible taxis or private hire vehicles under the powers set out in S167 of the Equality Act 2010; however, at that time they did intend to produce such a list, so the answer should have been ‘no’ we do not hold a list of wheelchair accessible taxis or private hire vehicles, but ‘yes’ we do intend to produce one.

The Licensing Officer is sorry for the confusion caused by the responses to these Freedom of Information requests and has advised me that they thought they were being helpful by informing you that they held a list of wheelchair accessible taxis and private hire vehicles, although not as set out under the powers of S167 of the Equality Act 2010. Unfortunately, we are in the process of a major transformation process within Lewes District Council that also involves Eastbourne Borough Council and this has involved staff losses and changes and this partly contributed to the error in the response to your request.

I apologise for the way in which Lewes District Council responded to your requests and for the time and trouble this has caused you in respect of clarifying our responses and the affect this has had on your research.