Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a standalone offence of assaulting a public transport worker.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no place for abuse or assault of any worker. Public transport workers and the wider public should be assured that where offenders commit acts of violence they will be arrested and brought before the courts. The British Transport Police have a specific remit to protect all rail staff and passengers.
Public transport workers do of course already have extensive protection in existing legislation such as the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 which also covers more serious violence such as actual bodily harm (ABH) and grievous bodily harm (GBH), and courts must already consider offences against public facing workers as an aggravating factor under the Police Crime and Sentencing Act 2022. We therefore do not believe that creating a specific offence would have the intended purpose of reducing assaults.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of legal protections against assaults at work for public transport workers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no place for abuse or assault of any worker. Public transport workers and the wider public should be assured that where offenders commit acts of violence they will be arrested and brought before the courts. The British Transport Police have a specific remit to protect all rail staff and passengers.
Public transport workers do of course already have extensive protection in existing legislation such as the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 which also covers more serious violence such as actual bodily harm (ABH) and grievous bodily harm (GBH), and courts must already consider offences against public facing workers as an aggravating factor under the Police Crime and Sentencing Act 2022. We therefore do not believe that any further legal protections are necessary or would reduce assaults.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's proposed disapplication of Section 132 of the Highways Act 1980 on public safety.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My Department has made no such proposal. It is for local authorities to determine how to use the powers at their disposal, including those within the Highways Act 1980.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 141 of the report entitled National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, published on 16 June 2025, what steps she plans to take to close the loophole that enables taxi drivers to apply for a license in one area and operate in another.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport will legislate to address the important issues raised in the report, tackling the inconsistent standards of taxi and private hire vehicle driver licensing. We will work as quickly as possible and consider all options – including out of area working, national standards and enforcement – seeking the best overall outcomes for passenger safety.
In the interim we will act urgently to make improvements, including consulting on making local transport authorities, including combined authorities, responsible for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing, and determining how existing statutory guidance can be strengthened to further protect the public. We are also reviewing authorities’ compliance with existing guidance and will hold those who do not follow it to account.
Some important protections have already been put in place since earlier inquiries into Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. All licensing authorities in England now undertake extensive driver background checks, and since 2023 they are required to use a single database to prevent a driver refused a licence in one area on safety grounds going elsewhere. Careful consideration of the options is needed as we do not want any change to decrease the availability of highly vetted licensed drivers and vehicles and inadvertently increase the use of those offering illegal services that evade these licensing checks.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to ensure that only taxis regulated in a specific (a) combined authority or (b) local authority area will be able to pick up customers from that area.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport will legislate to address the important issues raised in the report, tackling the inconsistent standards of taxi and private hire vehicle driver licensing. We will work as quickly as possible and consider all options – including out of area working, national standards and enforcement – seeking the best overall outcomes for passenger safety.
In the interim we will act urgently to make improvements, including consulting on making local transport authorities, including combined authorities, responsible for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing, and determining how existing statutory guidance can be strengthened to further protect the public. We are also reviewing authorities’ compliance with existing guidance and will hold those who do not follow it to account.
Some important protections have already been put in place since earlier inquiries into Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. All licensing authorities in England now undertake extensive driver background checks, and since 2023 they are required to use a single database to prevent a driver refused a licence in one area on safety grounds going elsewhere. Careful consideration of the options is needed as we do not want any change to decrease the availability of highly vetted licensed drivers and vehicles and inadvertently increase the use of those offering illegal services that evade these licensing checks.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to ensure that all taxi drivers undertake safeguarding training.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport’s statutory guidance, published in 2020, to licensing authorities on how they should use their powers to protect children and vulnerable adults recommends that they should require taxi and private hire vehicle drivers to undertake safeguarding training. Licensing authorities must have regard to the statutory guidance, and we expect the recommendations to be implemented unless there is a compelling local reason not to. As of 1 April 2024, 96% of licensing authorities in England required the taxi and private hire vehicle drivers they license to undergo awareness training on child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation. We are currently reviewing licensing authorities’ compliance with existing DfT guidance and will hold those who do not follow it to account.
In response to the recommendation made in Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Report in respect of taxis and private hire vehicles, my department has committed to legislate to address the important issues raised in the report, tackling the inconsistent standards of taxi and private hire vehicle driver licensing. We are working quickly to consider all options, including national standards, seeking the best overall outcomes for passenger safety. It is highly likely that any national standards would be subject to consultation, with the existing statutory guidance recommendations, including safeguarding training for drivers, providing the starting point for any future national standards.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to create an offence of assaulting a transport worker.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no place for abuse or assault of any worker; everyone should be, and feel, safe whilst working. The Government values the commitment of everyone who works in the public transport sector ensuring the continued running of all the vital services which people rely on daily.
Assault is already an offence, and when prosecuting assaults, the courts must already consider offences against public-facing workers such as transport staff as an aggravating factor when sentencing, in line with the provision in the Police, Crime and Sentencing 2022 Act.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of existing levels of funding for the British Transport Police.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The British Transport Police’s (BTP) budget is set by the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA). It is the executive non-departmental public body that oversees the Force and is their employer. BTPA sets the BTP’s budget annually following proposals from the Force and views from industry. Set against a backdrop of wider public sector efficiencies and affordability by the rail industry it has agreed a budget increase for the financial year 2025/26 of 5.9%. BTP work closely with BTPA and industry operators to make final resourcing decisions with their agreed budget.
The cost of policing the rail network in Great Britain is primarily covered through the funding agreements that the British Transport Police Authority holds with Network Rail, the rail operators and Transport for London.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her plans are for future funding arrangements for British Transport Police (a) during and (b) after the transition to Great British Railways.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The British Transport Police’s (BTP) budget is set currently set by the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA). It is the executive non-departmental public body that oversees the Force and is their employer. BTPA sets the BTP’s budget annually following proposals from the Force and views from industry.
We anticipate that the level of funding for the BTP during the transition to and commencement of Great British Railways will similarly balance the needs of the industry and the force against public sector affordability.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2025 to Question 43941 on Taxis: Licensing, when she plans to complete her consideration of options to strengthen the regulation of the sector.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport will consult shortly on whether to make all Local Transport Authorities responsible for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing.
We believe administering the regime at this higher level would increase the consistency of standards and enable more effective use of enforcement powers. Greater economies of scale could also enable authorities to improve the efficiency of taxi and private hire vehicle licensing. Addressing these issues should reduce the factors that induce people to license out of their usual working area.