Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the safety of passengers in taxis and private hire vehicles of implementation of the provision in Clause 8 of the Deregulation Bill currently before Parliament that unlicensed drivers will be able to drive a licensed vehicle when it is not being used for work purposes.

The Government’s view is that Clause 10 (previously Clause 8) of the Deregulation Bill is a common-sense measure with adequate safeguards. However, after listening to concerns about this proposal during the passage of the Bill, the Government has concluded that a better course of action would be for this measure to be considered as part of the package of measures recommended by the Law Commission to reform taxi and private hire vehicle licensing which the Government is considering.

The Government will withdraw clause 10 from the Bill when clauses 10-12 are debated at Lords Committee Stage on 21 October.