Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether community transport operators relying on the exclusively non-commercial exemption to holding a public service vehicle operators' licence will be able to continue to do so pending his Department’s publication of a final response to the consultation on Section 19 and Section 22 permits; and what criteria are used to define non-commercial for that purpose.

In March the Department clarified the scope of two exemptions to the EU Regulation on operator licensing in guidance and enacted a new additional exemption; so that community transport operators can carry on taking people to the shops, work, school, hospital and the doctor.

The definitive view of what the non-commercial exemption means will be a matter for the High Court. Once it has reached a decision, the Government will revise its guidance in line with the High Court’s judgement.