Lists of Accessible Taxis under S167 Equality Act 2010

The request was successful.

Dear West Berkshire 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, West Berkshire Council

FoI/2017/427

 

Dear Mr Paulley,

 

Request for information: Lists of Accessible Taxis

 

Thank you for your request received 20^th April 2017; we will seek to
respond within twenty working days.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Suzi Kenchington 

Information Access Compliance Officer

Strategic Support,

West Berkshire Council, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury, RG14 5LD

email:  [1][email address]

' 01635 519860 (external)      '  2860 (internal)      

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Dear foi,

The 20 working days are up;

what is the status of my request please?

Yours sincerely,

Doug Paulley

foi, West Berkshire Council

1 Attachment

FoI/2017/427

 

Dear Mr Paulley,

 

Request for information: Lists of Accessible Taxis

 

Please see below the Council’s response to your request for information.

 

You have asked;

 

1) Please advise if you have produced, or currently intend to produce, a
list of wheelchair accessible:

a)     taxis

Currently all new Hackney Carriages must be wheelchair accessible- the
rest of the fleet is wheelchair accessible with the exception of a few
which are fitted with swivel seats that are permitted under grandfather
rights when the change to the fleet to wheelchair accessible was made. The
Licensing service is currently looking to produce a report for Committee
to consider whether a list of acceptable vehicles should be produced.

and

b)    private hire vehicles –

A list of these vehicles is attached however, please note, it is not
mandatory for private hire vehicles to be Wheelchair Accessible.

 

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.

4  taxi drivers have been granted exemption certificates.

 

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.

The Council did not produce a 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.

Work on this is still ongoing therefore, we have no information to answer
these questions at this time.

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may ask
for an internal review. You should contact The FoI Reviewing Officer,
Strategic Support, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury RG14 5LD, email
FoI[1]@westberks.gov.uk  if you wish to request a review. If you are not
content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

 

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Suzi Kenchington 

Information Access Compliance Officer

Strategic Support,

West Berkshire Council, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury, RG14 5LD

email:  [2][email address]

' 01635 519860 (external)      '  2860 (internal)      

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Dear West Berkshire Council,

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

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

I don't understand some of what you've responded with.

I asked:

"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."

In respect of 1b) you responded with a list of accessible PHVs. However I asked specifically about a list under the powers set out in S167 of the Equality Act 2010, which your list doesn't seem to comply.

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."

Do you have a list of wheelchair accessible PHVs clearly marked "designated for the purposes of section 165 of the Act", is it published, does it include the make, model, license type (taxi or PHV) and the name of the operator? If you do then you have a S167 list. If you don't then you don't have such a list.

I'm also unclear with your response to 1a). Do you have a S167 list? If not, do you intend to have a S167 list? It's not very clear.

If you have a S167 list or lists, or you intend to do so, then please respond to 4-7.

Also, as the list of PHVs you attached to your response doesn't appear to comply with S167, it's a voluntary list for the purposes of Q3. Please can you tell me when this was compiled, as asked?

Thank you

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, West Berkshire Council

Dear Mr Paulley,

 

Thank you for your email received 23^rd May 2017.

 

Please see the additional information below that has been supplied by the
Licensing service.

 

You have asked;

 

"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."

West Berkshire Council have not published a list but we are looking to
doing this in the future. The list supplied previously contained Hackney
Carriage vehicles and not Private Hire vehicles.

 

Do you have a list of wheelchair accessible PHVs clearly marked
"designated for the purposes of section 165 of the Act", is it published,
does it include the make, model, license type (taxi or PHV) and the name
of the operator? If you do then you have a S167 list. If you don't then
you don't have such a list.

No there is no such list – there are currently no Private Hire vehicles
which are WAV.

 

I'm also unclear with your response to 1a). Do you have a S167 list? If
not, do you intend to have a S167 list? It's not very clear.

No we do not have a list – we are looking at the possibility of producing
one in the future.

 

If you have a S167 list or lists, or you intend to do so, then please
respond to 4-7.  

No list recorded

 

Also, as the list of PHVs you attached to your response doesn't appear to
comply with S167, it's a voluntary list for the purposes of Q3. Please can
you tell me when this was compiled, as asked?

The original list was for HC vehicles and is a current list of HC vehicles
which are WAV.

 

I hope this additional information answers your request in full however,
if this is not the case please let me know and I will escalate your
request to the Internal Review stage.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Suzi Kenchington 

Information Access Compliance Officer

Strategic Support,

West Berkshire Council, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury, RG14 5LD

email:  [1][email address]

' 01635 519860 (external)      '  2860 (internal)      

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