Lists of Accessible Taxis under S167 Equality Act 2010

The request was successful.

Dear Rother 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

foi, Rother District Council

Dear Mr Paulley

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

Thank you for your request received on 20 April 2017 relating to information about accessible taxis. We aim to respond to your request for information within 20 working days, in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

If your request is for personal information your request will be dealt with according to the requirements of the Data Protection Act and the timescale for response may be extended to 40 days.

John Collins
Service Management of Corporate and Human Resources

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foi, Rother District Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Paulley

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

 

With reference to your request received on 20 April 2017 about accessible
taxis, we would respond as follows:-

 

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.

 

We have not produced a formal list, but details of wheelchair accessible
vehicles can be (and have been) extracted from our database and given to
customers upon request. Our current list is attached.

 

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.

 

None

 

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.

 

We have been happy to provide details of wheelchair accessible vehicles
for at least the last four years, when our current taxi licensing officer
came into post. However we have no record of when our first request was
received or our first list produced.

 

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.

 

N/A please see our response to question 3

 

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

 

                This information is already publically available on our
website and I would direct you to the following:

•             Our handbook, which can be found on
[1]http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/7308/Ex...

•             Our VCT testing standards, which can be found at
[2]http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/7311/Ve...

 

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

 

We would take any complaints relating to this issue very seriously.
Depending on the nature of the complaint we would consider either the
issuing of penalty points on the grounds of unsatisfactory behaviour, or
the driver may be asked to appear before our Licensing Sub-Committee with
the view to suspension or revocation of their licence.

 

7) The list.

 

Attached

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of the request please contact us
within 60 calendar days of this response, if you wish to request an
internal review. 

 

If you are still dissatisfied with the outcome of the internal review you
have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner.  Their
details are:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire   SK9 5AF

Tel. 01625 545700

[3]www.ico.org.uk

 

Please note that the information provided by Rother District Council is
intended for your personal use.  If it is your intention to re-use the
information for commercial gain, you will need to apply to the Council for
a license to re-use it, under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information
Regulations 2005.

 

 

Freedom of Information Manager

 

Rother District Council

Town Hall

Bexhill on Sea TN39 3JX

 

T: 01424 787835

E: [4][Rother District Council request email]

W:  [5]www.rother.gov.uk

 

[6]Follow all news stories on Twitter

[7]Visit our Website

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References

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2. http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/7311/Ve...
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4. mailto:[Rother District Council request email]
5. http://www.rother.gov.uk/
6. Follow all news stories on Twitter
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7. Rother District Council
http://www.rother.gov.uk/

Dear Rother District Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Rother District Council's handling of my FOI request 'Lists of Accessible Taxis under S167 Equality Act 2010'.

You haven't provided the information I requested.

I asked:

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

You responded:

"We have not produced a formal list, but details of wheelchair accessible vehicles can be (and have been) extracted from our database and given to customers upon request. Our current list is attached."

That doesn't answer whether you currently intend to produce a S167 list, however. I assume you will be doing so in line with the strong guidance produced by the DFT, but please confirm?

The DFT's statutory guidance has this to say about S167: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...

"Whilst LAs are under no specific legal obligation to maintain a list under section 167, the Government recommends strongly that they do so. Without such a list the requirements of section 165 of the Act do not apply, and drivers may continue to refuse the carriage of wheelchair users, fail to provide them with assistance, or to charge them extra."

"Before drivers can be subject to the duties under section 165 of the Act, the LA must first publish their list of designated vehicles, and clearly mark it as ‘designated for the purposes of section 165 of the Act’. LAs should ensure that their designated lists are made easily available to passengers, and that vehicle owners and drivers are made aware. Lists should set out the details of the make and model of the vehicle, together with specifying whether the vehicle is a taxi or private hire vehicle, and stating the name of operator."

I asked:

"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."

You responded:

"N/A please see our response to question 3".

A S167 list is different from a voluntary list. Any list held before 6th April 2017 is a voluntary list, which may or may not have been converted into a S167 list after 6th April 2017, depending on whether it meets the above requirements (being clearly marked 'designated for the purposes of section 165 of the Act' and so on.) So your response doesn't make any sense. Please can you let me know by which date you intend to implement a S167 list?

In response to my question,

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

you stated:

"We would take any complaints relating to this issue very seriously. Depending on the nature of the complaint we would consider either the issuing of penalty points on the grounds of unsatisfactory behaviour, or the driver may be asked to appear before our Licensing Sub-Committee with the view to suspension or revocation of their licence."

However unless and until you create a list in compliance with S167, drivers are not subject to the requirements set out in S165 and so you won't be able to enforce such.

Finally, the list you provided in response to Q7 is not your S167 list as requested.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...

Yours faithfully,

Doug Paulley

foi, Rother District Council

Dear Mr Paulley

I acknowledge receipt of your request for an Internal Review. This is being processed and we will revert to you with our response.

Freedom of Information Manager

Rother District Council
Town Hall
Bexhill on Sea TN39 3JX

T: 01424 787835
E: [Rother District Council request email]
W: www.rother.gov.uk

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Dear foi,

I have requested a S50 assessment in the following terms.

dear ICO

Please conduct a S50 assessment of this request: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...

They haven't provided the information I requested and they haven't
completed an internal review within 20 working days.

thank you

Doug Paulley

Yours sincerely,

Doug Paulley

foi, Rother District Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Paulley

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

Thank you for your email and apologise for the delay in responding. We have now been able to conclude the Internal Review and this is attached hereto. I note that you have contacted the ICO regarding this matter and no doubt they will contact us regarding your complaint.

Freedom of Information Manager

Rother District Council
Town Hall
Bexhill on Sea TN39 3JX

T: 01424 787835
E: [Rother District Council request email]
W: www.rother.gov.uk

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Dear foi,

Thank you for the response and the information.

I object to your characterisation of some of it.

You state

"That the Internal Review asked for further information – essentially whether the Council intended to move ahead on the issues raised with the FOI."

It does not include any request for further information. I asked for the information right at the start.

"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."

Note "currently intend to produce".

I also asked this in the original request:

"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."

So I originally asked for any planned implementation date.

You state:

"FOI requests are for information we hold. They are not for matters about intentions (unless clearly there is information held on this)."

Indeed. I know. The thing is the council is obliged to have information on their intentions or otherwise to produce a S167 list. The Department for Transport's Statutory Guidance at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy..., to which local authorities are obliged to have "due regard" under S167(7) of the Equality Act ("A licensing authority which maintains a list under subsection (1) must have regard to any guidance issued under subsection (6)"), requires local authorities to consider creating a S167 list, and has a strongly recommended process and timescale.

The guidance states:

"Whilst LAs are under no specific legal obligation to maintain a list under section 167, the Government recommends strongly that they do so. Without such a list the requirements of section 165 of the Act do not apply, and drivers may continue to refuse the carriage of wheelchair users, fail to provide them with assistance, or to charge them extra."
"we recognise that LAs will need time to put in place the necessary procedures to exempt drivers with certain medical conditions from providing assistance where there is good reason to do so, and to make drivers aware of these new requirements. In addition, LAs will need to ensure that their new procedures comply with this guidance, and that exemption notices are issued in accordance with Government regulations. This will ensure that we get a consistent approach and the best outcomes for passengers in wheelchairs.
As such, we would encourage LAs to put in place sensible and manageable transition procedures to ensure smooth and effective implementation of this new law. LAs should only publish lists of wheelchair accessible vehicles for the purposes of
section 165 of the Act when they are confident that those procedures have been put in place, drivers and owners notified of the new requirements and given time to apply for exemptions where appropriate. We would expect these arrangements to take no more than a maximum of six months to put in place, following the commencement of these provisions"

So the Council has been under the legal obligation to consider whether or not to produce a S167 list, and if so they are obliged to go through a process of implementing the list, which involves several steps to be completed before 6th October 2016. The decision to create a list is one for democratic oversight or control and is documented; and the actions demonstrating intention or otherwise to create a list also inevitably create substantial recorded information. I therefore object to your characterisation of my request on intent to create a list as not a request for recorded information held by the Council, or of not being in my original request.

I also object to your characterisation of your responses to my Q1 and Q7 as being in accordance with the Act. I asked specifically about S167 lists; as you didn't have one you should have stated such in response to both questions, as well as giving the intended date of instatement of the S167 list and recorded information on the Council's intentions.

I have made the same request to all 347 taxi licensing bodies in England, Scotland and Wales. Yours is the only one that has characterised my request about S167 intentions as being not a valid request for recorded information.

You have provided the information now, but I think you should re-examine your approach to such in future, and in particular avoid making allegations about the request that you cannot substantiate, and hold your hands up when the authority has failed to respond properly, as this council did.

Doug Paulley

Yours sincerely,

Doug Paulley