Person responsible for managing the assessment

Environmental Health Manager

Name and brief description of the service / policy to be assessed

Licensing (within Env. Health)

Objectives of the service/policy to be assessed

To provide an impartial licensing service to the borough.

Baseline/monitoring data 2006/07

No. Premises licences  278

No. Personal licences 610

No. Taxi Driver licences 573

No. Taxi licences 480

Sundry licences (animal welfare/lotteries) 150

(All figures approx)

Service/policy outcome evaluation

Addressed via:

• Customer satisfaction surveys
• Articles in Serving You
• Engagement with other (public) bodies – CAB, PCC, Police, Social Services, Community Boards, Planning, Fire, Community Boards/Associations etc., Crime and Disorder Partnership.
• Internal liaison

List of main stakeholders/beneficiaries

• Residents
• Businesses
• Police
• Licence holders

How representative is the ‘stakeholder’ list above?

At least 90%

Who benefits from the service/policy?

• Community
• Individual service users/recipients

In what area are there concerns that the policy could have a differential impact

Race√

Disability √

Gender

Age √

Religious beliefs

Sexual Orientation

Please explain for each of the target equality groups, but in particular race, disability and gender:

Race: Communication of legal standards e.g. Licensing requirements to an increasing non-British customer base.

Disability: Restriction on granting taxi driver licences unless health criteria met

Age: Restrictions on age for taxi drivers

Areas of concern that the service/policy could have a differential impact  

Race: Licensing requirements relate to a British value set.

Disability/Age: Stringent health requirements tend to impact on older people more often.

Differential impact

• Possible difficulty explaining nuances of legislation.
• Lack of publicity of UK law in native language.
• Legal and medical infrastructure in foreign countries often at variance with UK standards.

Reasons for any differential impact

• HBC officers have to communicate with many nationalities who may see taxi driving as a way into employment in the UK when the job requires more skills than the ability to drive.
• Lack of geographical knowledge of area.

Are there any barriers to opportunities or access for some groups?

·         Language

·         Expectations of type of outcome due to culture

Complaints data

None received on equality issues.

Are there disadvantages caused by discrimination?

Reduced access to licences.

Are there opportunities to better promote service/policy inclusion?

Yes – advisory leaflet in various languages but requirement to understand English is paramount.

Have you undertaken any consultation?

Whilst we carry out customer satisfaction surveys from time to time, the questions are not constructed to determine whether or not the service was accessible in the terms of equality.

Consultation outcomes

See above

Assessment conclusion

• Publicity of service provision and standards affected groups is necessary.

• Customer satisfaction surveys must include references to equalities.

Monitoring timetable

Dependent on HBC establishing links.

Please ensure that you have provided as much evidence as possible to support the responses you have given.

Additional Comments

Licensing deals with large numbers of contacts where the issues are often contentious and heavily based in legal requirements. In the borough there have to date been few problems. We are however already providing Language Line as necessary.

Due to the wide variety of licences issued, this document highlights some of the more common tasks. The principles which underlie any task are readily transferred across the spectrum.

Signed:  Environmental Health Manager

                                                                                                            (Completing Officer)

Signed:  Head of Environmental Services                                   (Head of Service)

Date: 5 June 2007