Speeches by Mayer.

“Do you think there is some hope in the sense that transport as an industry is changing? We are getting more electric and autonomous vehicles. It feels like a greener and cleaner environment. Should we be selling that as we try to encourage more women into the workforce for transport?”

“Women make up half the workforce but only around a quarter of the manufacturing workforce. What more do you think both the sector and Government can do to reduce that disparity, but particularly within the transport sector?”

“As Britain faced peril in world war two, Winston Churchill took a radical step: he changed the clocks to shift extra daylight into the evenings. As the clocks go back this weekend, will the Prime Minister take a look at the evidence on trialling Churchill time again to cut carbon, reduce bills, improve road safety, boo…”

“Regarding the new airports national policy statement, can the Secretary of State clarify whether “airports” is in the plural? If so, will she be looking to change the planning process so that it can take into account the cumulative environmental impact of different airport expansions around the country?”

“A new school has been in the offing in Bidwell West for almost a decade now. The independent council promised me that places would be available from September 2027, but now appears to be backtracking. Is the Minister willing to meet me to discuss the obvious concerns of parents, many of whom moved into the new build es…”

“David, in your written evidence you mentioned premature suspensions and suggested that the process might be too effective. On the other hand, in previous inquiries we have heard, for example, about drivers who would be unwilling to take assistance dogs. I know from my own casework that there are cases where there is al…”

“The Casey audit linked weaknesses in taxi and private hire vehicle licensing to serious passenger safeguarding failures. How confident are you that the current licensing framework enables licensing authorities to adequately protect passengers?”

“David or Helen, anything to add to that?”

“Do you feel that they will be practically enforceable?”

“Do you have any suggestions of specific additional measures that could be put in place to improve safety?”

“That is our next question.”

“How effective do you think the national register of taxi and private hire licence refusals, revocations and suspensions has been so far in practice, and how do you think it could be improved to better improve passenger safety?”

“The whole Government seems to be moving in the direction of devolution and more regional mayoral authorities. However, if you look through the evidence we have received, most of the councils that currently hold licensing powers do not seem that keen on it. Maybe that is unsurprising. Do you think that moving taxi and P…”

“Good. Fantastic.”

“Wolverhampton had greatness thrust upon it; is it happy to lose it all again?”

“Perhaps London is a model we could all follow.”

“We heard in the previous evidence session that there appear to be around 230 different sets of conditions being applied to drivers. What are your views on the case for introducing national minimum licensing standards for taxis and private hire vehicles? What scope, if any, do you think should remain for local variation…”

“Some of you have already touched upon this, but overall, how effective are the current complaint systems for both drivers and passengers, particularly in circumstances where drivers work out of area?”

“I think you said there that you thought there should be some kind of recognised CCTV. In quite a lot of our evidence, people have said that they do not want a concept of approved devices because it can be very costly to have to get a specific type.”

“What role do you think CCTV in vehicles can play in protecting both drivers and passengers? We have seen in the evidence that there are some barriers, and like everything else, it appears to be a bit of a postcode lottery. What are the main barriers?”