Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the clarity of the guidance given to local authorities on determining the eligibility for blue badges of community transport operators.

In accordance with the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000, our guidance to local authorities makes clear the eligibility criteria for issuing an organisational Blue Badge.

Guidance issued by the Department is clear that some organisations, such as community transport operators, are unlikely to be eligible for a Blue Badge. To be eligible they must both care for and transport disabled people, who themselves meet the eligibility criteria for a badge. It is for the issuing local authority to decide whether there is a clear need for an organisational badge rather than using the individual badges of the people that are being transported.