This meeting was scheduled to be about the licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles in Ipswich. The committee were scheduled to discuss two enforcement matters, and agree on the hearing procedure.

Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Enforcement Matters

The bulk of the meeting was scheduled to be taken up with discussion of two enforcement matters. These are matters where the council investigates the conduct of taxi drivers and private hire operators in Ipswich, and decides whether to take action against their licences. The details of the two cases were not made public, in case doing so would compromise the council's investigation. However, we do know that the committee was scheduled to be asked to agree a procedure for the hearings.

We know this because the agenda states that:

likely that if members of the public were present during these items there would be disclosure to them of exempt information

— Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Enforcement Sub-Committee - 13 December 2024 - Agenda frontsheet 13th-Dec-2024 11.00 Hackney Carriage Private Hire Enforcement Sub-Committee

The law that allows the council to withhold information from the public in order to protect the fairness of legal proceedings is called paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.