Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the recommendation made by the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Licensing and in response to the representations made by the Mayor of (a) London and (b) Greater Manchester, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling (i) towns and (ii) cities to cap the number of private hire vehicles operating in an area.

The Government’s position on enabling the restriction of private hire vehicles was set-out in the response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group; that powers already available to local authorities should be used to address air quality and congestion concerns.