Speeches by Greenwood.

“Hopefully, not very many.”

“That is really interesting because obviously my experience of using taxis and PHVs is that a lot of them are modern hybrid vehicles. Actually, on certain apps, when you get your choice of vehicle you get the option to take an electric vehicle rather than not, and it might come at a bit of a price point. The public are …”

“This is something that we are absolutely focused on doing. Obviously, there is always competition for what goes into our legislative programme because this Government are ambitious about the things that we want to do. You will have seen in our own Department that we have had an early focus on the rail system and on bus…”

“The power that is set out in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill would give us the ability to put requirements on that. I would be interested in the Committee’s view. Obviously, there is a big incentive for local authorities to process licence applications in a timely fashion, particularly if you want…”

“Probably early April, yes.”

“They are different. There is potential for both to be distracting. This is not just an issue for taxi and private hire drivers; it is also an issue for delivery drivers.”

“The other thing to say, of course, is that the more requirements we put in, the more cost we put into the system. That has consequences, does it not? We know that a lot of people rely on taxis and private hire vehicles, particularly people who perhaps cannot afford a car of their own, or disabled people who would not b…”

“I do not think so. We are quite open to looking at the views that people want to put forward.”

“That would be against our best practice guidance.”

“That is probably a question for the Home Office really because that sits within its remit. I imagine there are a number of different job occupations it would like to be regulated. It is something I would be open to considering if that was a recommendation from the Committee.”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Dowd; I know you have a deep personal commitment to road safety. I congratulate the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon) on securing this debate and thank him for raising the vital issue of road safety and vulnerable users, specifically horse riders. It is clear that t…”

“My hon. Friend makes an important point, and I agree with him. As has already been noted, despite the investment of £2.4 million in paid advertising raising road users’ awareness of the changes to the code, it is clear that more action is needed. As set out in the strategy, we are considering options to improve the saf…”

“My hon. Friend has made his point very well. We will also continue to encourage safer road user behaviours in order to improve safety for all vulnerable road users, including horse riders, motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians and road workers. Our flagship road safety campaign, THINK!, will continue to do that, alongsi…”

“In making decisions, you want to have the fullest possible information to help you to make those decisions. Clearly, the police can share information on those who might not have a conviction that would result in them appearing on enhanced and barred lists, but that might cause you to apply that fit and proper person te…”

“Absolutely.”

“Yes, and I wondered if that is why some local authorities were putting in a requirement around vehicle age. Where there seems to be a slightly odd way of applying it is that some local authorities seem to have an age for first licensing that does not apply when renewing your licence. Theoretically, and Liz can correct …”

“No, it could do that.”

“The requirements that we put on for licensing of drivers and operators are neutral. I also wonder whether the distinction between app-based operators and traditional operators is still valid. In my own local authority, I have been using DG Cars for donkey’s years. Back in the day, you would phone up and book one. Now t…”

“Yes. That was the point I was getting at really, which is that if you end up with a lot of out-of-area licensing, then it means that the resources are not in the right place. We need to come up with a solution that deals with that.”

“Obviously, for drivers, they have requirements on them with the area where they have licensed, but you can always drive to areas outside where you are licensed for the reason that Liz just said. You might be licensed in Nottingham but doing a pickup from Heathrow airport or driving someone to the far end of the country…”