Government hints at stopping short of mandating safeguarding training for taxi and private hire drivers
- Perry Richardson
- 5 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The Government has stopped short of committing to amend statutory taxi and private hire vehicle licensing guidance to mandate safeguarding training for all drivers, instead pointing to existing recommendations and proposed new regulation-making powers.
In a written parliamentary answer published, Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood confirmed that current Department for Transport guidance already advises licensing authorities to require safeguarding training. However, she did not state that such training would become a compulsory national condition of licensing at this stage.
The response followed a question from Jerome Mayhew, who asked whether the Secretary of State would amend statutory guidance “to ensure that licensing authorities require taxi and private hire vehicle drivers to undertake safeguarding training and demonstrate safeguarding knowledge as a condition of licensing”.
Greenwood said: “The Department’s existing statutory guidance recommends that licensing authorities should require taxi and private hire vehicle drivers to undertake safeguarding training.” She added that the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, currently before the House of Lords, “seeks to provide a power for the Secretary of State to set in regulations requirements that must be met for any taxi or private hire vehicle licence to be issued and held.”
DfT points to existing guidance and future regulation powers under Devolution Bill
The answer indicates that while safeguarding training is strongly encouraged under current statutory guidance, the decision to mandate it looks likely to remain with individual licensing authorities. This continues the existing framework in England, where councils retain significant discretion over local licensing standards despite national guidance.
For operators and drivers, the Bill could represent a structural shift in how taxi and private hire licensing is regulated. If passed with the proposed powers intact, it would allow central government to introduce national requirements through secondary legislation, potentially standardising areas such as safeguarding, background checks and other safety-related conditions.
Safeguarding training has been a recurring theme in sector reform discussions, particularly following high-profile reviews into taxi and private hire vehicle regulation and cross-border working. Many local authorities already require drivers to complete safeguarding courses and assessments, but standards vary between areas.
Industry stakeholders will look at the ongoing progress of the Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill in the Lords. Any move to introduce nationally prescribed licence conditions could affect compliance costs, and training provision for licensing authorities and drivers.
