The Government has said it remains committed to publishing the taxi statutory guidance “shortly”.

Rachel Maclean, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Transport, was responding to Parliamentary questions from Labour MP Florence Eshalomi who asked the Under-Secretary about the government’s plans for reform of the taxi and private hire licensing regime.

In particular, Ms Eshalomi put the following questions to the Secretary of State for Transport:

• when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce national minimum standards for taxi and PHV licensing.
• when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on cross-border working in the PHV industry.
• when the Government plans to respond to the public consultation onTaxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing: Protecting Users that was published in February 2019.

Responding to these questions, Ms Maclean said: “The Government will continue to engage with the sector on our plans for reforming the regulation of taxis and private hire vehicles, including options to introduce new legislation. The Department is supporting licensing authorities to make use of their extensive existing powers through statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards, which will be issued shortly. The Department will consult on updated best practice guidance on other matters later this year.”