TRANSPORT COMMITTEE REPORT
Recommendation 18 We welcome the minister’s
statement that the
government wants licensing authorities to be able to take enforcement action against all the taxis.
and PHVs operating in their area. We look forward to the government’s forthcoming legislation setting out a clear pathway to achieving this.
Government Response
The Government is committed to strengthening enforcement powers to ensure that licensing authorities can take action against all taxis and PHVs operating within their areas, regardless of where they are licensed. The Government has already taken action, through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act as a first step to strengthen enforcement powers. These will enable the immediate suspension of licences in the interests of public safety, regardless of where a driver is licensed.
The Government recognises that the current framework can create challenges for authorities seeking to address non-compliance, particularly where vehicles operate away from where they are licensed. Expanded enforcement powers will need to be accompanied by clear guidance, safeguards, and effective information sharing to ensure that authorities can act confidently while avoiding duplication or inconsistency.
Measures to achieve this will be considered during the pre-legislative scrutiny process to establish a clear pathway for implementation.
Recommendation 19
The government should address the current mismatch between enforcement responsibilities and funding by enabling licensing authorities to recover the costs of enforcement action taken against out-of- area drivers from the authority that issued the licence. Transitional support may be required to build enforcement capacity in authorities with more limited resources.
Government Response
The Government recognises the challenges associated with the current distribution of enforcement responsibilities and resources, particularly in cases
PHTM NOVEMBER 2026 65
involving out-of-area drivers and operators. This can place disproportionate burdens on certain licensing authorities and create inconsistencies in enforcement.
The Government agrees that there is a need to consider how the framework can better align enforcement responsibilities with appropriate funding mechanisms, while ensuring that any approach remains fair, proportionate,
and workable in practice. Such mechanisms would require careful design, including consideration of administrative complexity, and ensuring a consistency of approaches across authorities.
The Government believes drivers should ordinarily be licensed by the authority in the area where they intend to undertake the majority of their work. To support this ambition, as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny process, the Government will consider a range of policy approaches to disincentivise out-of- area working. If effective, this would help address the mismatch between enforcement responsibilities and funding.
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