Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effects of the Government's reforms of taxi and minicab licensing on the safety of women passengers.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to determine whether someone is fit and proper to hold a driver’s licence and as part of this process they can request an enhanced criminal records check.

After careful consideration, the Government has decided not to pursue clause 10 of the Deregulation Bill which would have allowed leisure use of private hire vehicles. We consider this measure is now better considered as part of the proposals in the Law Commission’s review of taxi and private hire vehicle licensing.