Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, ⁠what guidance her Department has issued to local authorities on checking for overseas criminal records for prospective (a) taxi and (b) private hire vehicle licence holders who were born overseas.

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 enables the Secretary of State for Transport to issue statutory guidance to licensing authorities on exercising their taxi and private hire vehicle licensing functions to protect children and vulnerable adults. Statutory guidance was published in 2020 under these powers. This statutory guidance includes a recommendation that when an applicant has previously spent an extended period living or working overseas (3 or more continuous months), licensing authorities should seek or require applicants to provide where possible criminal records information or a certificate of good character from overseas.