Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing: protecting users, published on 12 February 2019, whether he has plans for statutory guidance to prohibit vehicles from undertaking journeys which do not take place or end in the area which they are licensed.

The draft statutory guidance on taxi and private hire vehicle licensing which the Department is consulting on is made using powers in the Policing and Crime Act 2017. Section 177 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 enables the Secretary of State to issue guidance to public authorities as to how their licensing functions under taxi and private hire vehicle legislation may be exercised so as to protect children, and vulnerable individuals who are 18 or over, from harm. The Department does not believe that prohibiting vehicles from undertaking journeys which do not take place or end in the area in which they are licensed falls within scope of the section 177 powers.

In the response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Government agreed with the principle that all taxi and private hire vehicle journeys should start and/or end within the area that issued the licences, and set out that further consideration will be given to how this might best work in practice, with a view to legislation.