Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Peter Gibson and Simon Fell

Tuesday 11th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)]

8. What support his Department is providing to life sciences clusters across the UK.

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

12. What steps he is taking to develop the UK’s life sciences sector.

Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Bill

Debate between Peter Gibson and Simon Fell

2nd reading
Friday 10th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Peter Gibson]

My hon. Friend is correct. The Bill does not change the existing licensing authorities regime and does not affect the appeals process, appeals panels or applications to the magistrates court.

The relevant information that led to the decision would not be recorded on the database but kept by the licensing authority and shared with other licensing authorities if they requested it. The information on the database would simply flag instances of applications for a driver’s licence being refused or of the suspension or revocation of a driver’s licence.

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)]

This is an important Bill. Does my hon. Friend agree that the timeliness of the information sharing is crucial? If someone has their licence revoked but seeks to get one from another authority, we do not want the information not to be on the database for the second licensing authority to check. It is crucial that information is shared in a timely manner and can be checked. Will my hon. Friend speak to that?

[Peter Gibson]

That very point is considered in the Bill, which gives local authorities a time limit for the entering of such information on the database. In that way, playing one local authority off against another—that circumnavigation, loophole or lacuna—is effectively dealt with.

To achieve its aims, the Bill enables the Secretary of State to provide or designate a person to provide a licensing information database. It enables the database operator to charge a fee in respect of the costs of the database, but such a fee will not be levied automatically.

I risk repeating a mantra, but better decisions are made when more information is available. The existing legislation enables only the authority that issued a licence to take action against it.