Select Committee on Delegated Powers and Deregulation Twenty-Seventh Report

PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLES (LONDON) BILL

Memorandum by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

This Memorandum, submitted by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, identifies those provisions of the Bill which give powers to make delegated legislation. It seeks to explain the purpose of each power, and to give examples of how it might be used.

Outline and Scope of the Bill

The Bill provides for a licensing regime for London private hire vehicles (PHVs), commonly known as "minicabs". The Bill provides for the licensing of London PHVs, their drivers and their operators (ie the people who arrange for bookings to be taken and fulfilled). The Bill also makes consequential provisions relating to PHVs licensed outside London but being driven in London, and for London licensed PHVs being driven outside London.

Proposals for Subordinate Legislation - General

The Bill provides that the Secretary of State shall be the regulatory authority for the London minicab trade. This is in line with the Secretary of State's responsibility for the licensing of the London taxi trade, and some of the provisions in this Bill for subordinate legislation are precedented by the Secretary of State's powers with regard to London taxis. He has powers to make orders relating to London taxis under the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 and the London Cab and Stage Carriage Act 1907, although these are not subject to Parliamentary procedure. He has also had power to make orders relating to signs etc on hire cars in London under section 4A of the London Cab Act 1968, which have been subject to negative resolution procedure. This provision is being replaced by the Bill. It is proposed that all the Secretary of State's powers under the present Bill should be exercisable by regulations and be subject to negative resolution procedure, with the scope for Parliamentary scrutiny that that entails.

The general purpose of the various powers to make regulations is to provide scope for flexibility in setting detailed regulatory requirements that may need to change over the years, in the light of experience or of changing circumstances such as technical change (perhaps in the design of vehicles) or advances in medical knowledge where drivers' fitness requirements are concerned.

Delegation of the Secretary of State's Functions

The Bill makes provision (clause 24) for the delegation of the Secretary of State's functions under the Bill. It is intended that in the first place the functions should be delegated to an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), with the actual day to day licensing function being carried out by the Public Carriage Office (PCO), a civilian branch of the MPS. The same delegation has been made in respect of London taxis (section 2 of the London Hackney Carriage Act 1850 and section 11 of the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869). However, section 24 also provides that the Secretary of State's powers to make subordinate legislation may not be delegated. In practice, this will mean that general requirements and conditions of licence will be prescribed in regulations made by the Secretary of State, and will thus be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. Requirements and conditions relating to individual licences will be set by the PCO, and will be subject to appeal to the Courts.

Specific provisions

The following paragraphs outline the specific provisions in the Bill for the making of regulations.

Clause 3(3)(b) provides that the Secretary of State may prescribe requirements that must be met by an applicant for a London PHV operator's licence. These requirements may relate to operating centres. Thus regulations could require, for example, that the applicant holds the appropriate radio licence, and that planning permission and a fire certificate have been obtained for each operating centre.

Clause 3(4) gives the Secretary of State the power to prescribe conditions in respect of operators' licences. Such conditions might include a requirement to inform the PCO of any change in senior employees or directors, or of any conviction of a senior employee or director.

Clause 4(3)(b) gives the Secretary of State the power to prescribe the form of records of bookings taken at an operating centre. This might cover the date and time the booking was taken, the name of the person making the booking, the location of the pick up and destination, the name of the driver to whom the booking was allocated and details of his vehicle. If the booking was sub-contracted, details of the operator with whom the sub-contract was made could be required. Regulations seem an appropriate means of setting out these requirements, because of the possibility of developments in computerised booking systems.

Clause 4(3)(d) gives the Secretary of State the power to prescribe the records of drivers and vehicles which an operator is required to keep. Such records might include the driver's address, PHV driver's licence number, driving licence details, National Insurance number, the type, model, registration number of his or her vehicle, and details of its test certificates and insurance.

Clause 4(4) gives the Secretary of State the power to prescribe how long an operator shall preserve his records relating to an operating centre after he ceases to use it. If an operator moves his operating centre it would not seem desirable that he should be able immediately to destroy all his records relating to bookings, drivers and cars at the former centre, as they might be needed for a subsequent enquiry.

Clause 7(2)(a) and (b) set out requirements for London PHVs. Clause 7(2)(c) empowers the Secretary of State to prescribe requirements beyond those set out in clause 7(2). These might include minimum dimensions, that a four-wheeled vehicle shall have at least four doors and that a passenger shall be able to reach and leave a passenger seat without folding up or climbing over another seat.

Clause 7(4) gives the Secretary of State the power to prescribe conditions in respect of London PHV licences. Such conditions might require the owner to report any modifications to the vehicle within a defined period, so that the vehicle may be inspected if it appears that passenger safety or comfort might be compromised. If the vehicle was wheelchair accessible, a condition might be that a passenger in a wheelchair must be carried facing forwards or rearwards, and that both the passenger and the wheelchair should be appropriately restrained.

Clause 10(2) gives the Secretary of State the power to prescribe how an identity disc or plate shall be exhibited on a London PHV. Flexibility seems desirable, to allow for changes in the light of experience. For example, there will be a balance to be struck between on the one hand a passenger being able to be certain that he or she is getting into the vehicle that was ordered, while on the other hand not encouraging people to hail a PHV (since PHVs are not allowed to ply for hire).

Clause 13(2)(b) empowers the Secretary of State to prescribe requirements for the grant of a London PHV driver's licence in addition to those set out in clauses 13(2)(a) and 13(3). Such requirements might relate to the medical fitness of the applicant and the intervals for medical examinations in respect of renewal applications. Clause 15(4)(a)(ii) provides that an applicant for a London PHV driver's licence may be required to produce a certificate that he meets any specific requirements of physical fitness that have been prescribed.

Clause 14(2) provides that the Secretary of State may prescribe the form of badges issued to licensed London PHV drivers. These requirements might include a photograph, details of the driver's licence, and security features such as a hologram. Regulations will allow the design of badge to be changed from time to time as may be required, in the light of experience, or of technical progress in matters such as photographs or information based on magnetic strips. By comparison, the requirement of section 8 of the London Hackney Carriage Act 1843 that London taxi drivers be issued with a "metal ticket, upon which there shall be marked or engraved his office or employment, and a number corresponding with the number" of his licence, now seems rather inflexible.

Clause 20 provides for the Secretary of State to set by regulations fees for the application for a licence and for the grant of a licence. The regulations may also provide for payment by instalments and for fees to be remitted or refunded. Fees from licences will be used to cover the costs of the licensing system, but no more. It is essential that they can be adjusted with reasonable flexibility. London taxi and taxi driver licence fees are set by the Secretary of State by order under section 6(1) and section 8 respectively of the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869.

The Secretary of State is required to maintain a register of licences and licence holders. Clause 23(1)(a) sets out some of the required details, while subsection (1)(b) gives the Secretary of State the power to prescribe further particulars to be entered into the register. These might include any variations of the licence and any special conditions applied to it. Registers of London taxi and taxi drivers' licences have to be kept by virtue of section 16 of the London Hackney Carriage Act 1843.

Clause 30 empowers the Secretary of State to make regulations prohibiting the display of signs, features etc on London vehicles. It would replace sections 4 and 4A of the London Cab Act 1968 which contains a similar order making power. The object is to stop vehicles which are not London cabs from exhibiting signs and notices etc which may lead the public to believe that they are.

Clause 32 of the Bill is a general provision relating to the making of regulations under the Bill. The clause provides, among other things, that the regulations shall be laid before Parliament and be subject

to negative resolution procedure. With regard to London taxis, section 4 of the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 provides that '"Prescribed" shall mean prescribed by order of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State', but orders under that Act are not subject to Parliamentary procedure.

Clause 37 provides for the Secretary of State to make regulations dealing with transitional arrangements for the introduction of the new licensing regime. Given the numbers of licence applications likely to be involved (possibly over 1,500 applications for operators' licences, and over 45,000 each for vehicles and drivers) some transitional arrangements will be essential.

London taxis have been continuously licensed since 1694, and transitional arrangements since then have largely been limited to changes in the Metropolitan Police District within which the London taxi licensing regime applies. An example was the London Cab (Temporary Provisions) Order 1965 (S.I. 1965 No. 639) which dealt with transitional arrangements for the licensing of taxis in Hornchurch Urban District and the Borough of Romford from 1st April 1965, when these areas were incorporated in the Metropolitan Police District. This order was made under the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 and the London Cab and Stage Carriage Act 1907.

Clause 40(2) makes provision for Commencement Orders, and provides that these may contain transitional provisions of the kind which could be included in regulations under clause 37.

9 July 1998

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