Taxis: Hate Crime

(asked on 19th December 2019) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to allow taxi drivers to audio record their journeys for the purposes of accurately recording incidents of hate crime and racism.


Answered by
Victoria Atkins Portrait
Victoria Atkins
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This question was answered on 7th January 2020

UK legislation does not prohibit the installation and use of systems capable of recording visual and audio data in taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (PHVs). It is for individual taxi and PHV licensing authorities to consider whether such systems should be prohibited, permitted or mandated in their fleet.

The Government has asked the Law Commission to undertake a full review of the coverage and approach of current hate crime legislation. That review is in progress. The Law Commission will publish a Consultation Paper in early 2020, and we expect their Final Report in early 2021.

The Government is clear that all forms of hate crime are unacceptable, and we have robust legislation to tackle these crimes. The Government’s Hate Crime Action Plan includes a commitment by the Department for Transport to ensure that taxi and private hire vehicle drivers identify and report hate crime in the night-time economy and includes relevant advice in the Department’s best practice guidance on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle licensing.

The Home Office does not hold information on the occupation of victims of violence or hate crime.

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