Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on implementing the Law Commission's recommendations on taxi and private hire services, published 23 May 2014.

In 2017, a Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing was established to consider how private hire vehicle and taxi licensing authorities use their powers, and produce focussed recommendations for action. The Group was also tasked with considering whether it would advise the Government to accept the recommendations made in the Law Commission’s May 2014 report. The report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group was published in 2018.

In 2019 the Government responded to the Task and Finish Group report setting out which of the recommendations made by the Chair the Department proposed to take forward. Many of the short-term recommendations were for licensing authorities to make full use of their extensive existing powers. To support licensing authorities, in July 2020 the Government issued the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards which sets out a robust range of safeguarding requirements and processes that all licensees in England should be subject to. A consultation on updated Best Practice Guidance for licensing authorities, which will contain recommendations on a wide range of issues, will be launched shortly.

The Government remains committed to bringing forward legislation, when Parliamentary time allows, to introduce national minimum standards, national enforcement powers and a national licensing database, as set out in the Government’s response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group.