What steps she is taking to review taxi and private hire vehicle licensing.
The Department for Transport will legislate to address the important issues raised in Baroness Casey’s 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 2023they 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.