Opinion
A view from the trade by B. M. ROLAND
THE NATIONAL PRIVATE HIRE ASSOCIATION 8 SILVER ST BURY BL9 0EX TEL: 0161 280 2800 FAX: 0161 280 7787 e-mail:
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WHICH CAME FIRST, THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG? AND IF IT WAS A RACE, WHO WAS GOING TO WIN?
So you’ve read the front page; if you haven’t, go back and take a look now. And I will take you back to the Minister, Norman Baker, giving evidence to the Select Committee on 15 March.
The Chair of the Select Committee, Louise Ellman, said to Mr Baker: “You have told us that you are reviewing taxi legislation. Could you tell us something about the areas you are considering, and when any such legislation is likely to be brought forward?”
Mr Baker replied: “I have asked the Law Commission in fact whether they would consider this as one of their project areas to look at, which is hopefully an interesting and successful way of dealing with this matter because it is quite complicated.” He went on to say, “Obviously we want the Law Commission to accept the suggestion I put to them, that this is a good area for a case study, and they should come back with an idea what we might sensibly do.
“I am also genuinely interested in what the Committee has to say on this matter... because I think it is an area where, in the Department, I certainly have an open mind on what the answers are.”
So both the Select Committee and the Law Commission published their reports on the same day, within a few hours of each other, and we hear that there were numerous telephone conversations whizzing about the various departments, in an attempt to minimalise any embarrassment or suggestion that these two front-line bodies were in opposition.
But you can see on pages 74-77 the Select Committee main report, and the substantive bits of the Law Commission’s report on page 77. Reading between the lines, the Select Committee says there is urgent need for changes in the legislation, and that instead of involv- ing the Law Commission, the Government should “engage with the trade, local authorities, and users, about the objectives of future leg- islation... and commit to overhaul that legislation during the course of this Parliament.”
But it then says, “This need not involve primary legislation. We con- sider that the swifter legislative Reform Order procedure could be used in this case.” I have to say that this concerns me. This sounds like, “We don’t need to delve too deep; we can do a quick fix and sort out cross-border”– which was the primary target of the report.
This is strengthened by the headings in the next section of their report, “Listen to users; keep it simple; keep it local”. And in section 3 they have effectively said that there are methods by which borders could be slammed shut; that enforcement could assist this; and that would solve the problem.
Finally, they set out their timescale for achieving their aims, and they call upon the Government to set out its policy proposals before the
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