The Taxi & General Licensing Sub-Committee of West Northamptonshire Council is scheduled to consider the suitability of individuals to hold private hire driver licences. The meeting will also address the potential exclusion of the press and public for certain agenda items.

Driver Suitability for Private Hire Licences

A significant portion of the meeting is scheduled to be dedicated to establishing the suitability of individuals to be granted private hire driver licences. The reports pack indicates that this will involve reviewing information pertaining to individual applicants, with specific pages allocated for this purpose within the public reports pack. The committee will be examining information contained on pages 5 to 24 and pages 25 to 36 of the public reports pack.

The agenda also outlines a procedure for the potential exclusion of the press and public from parts of the meeting. This is due to the presence of exempt information, as defined by paragraph 1 of Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, which relates to information concerning individuals. Should the committee decide to exclude the public and press, they are recommended to pass a resolution stating: That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that, if the public and press were present, it would be likely that exempt information falling under the provisions of Schedule 12A, Part I, Paragraph 1 would be disclosed to them, and that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. ¹