§ 28. Dr. Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has now considered the Report of the Working Party on Hackney Carriage Law in the Provinces; and if he will carry out its recommendations.
§ 35. Mr. Fenner Brockwayasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has now reached a decision regarding the recommendation of the Hackney Carriages Committee that station ranks should be open by rota to taxi-cabs occupying nearby ranks.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeI would refer the hon. Members to the answer which I gave on 27th October to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for St. Marylebone (Sir W. Wakefield).
§ Dr. KingIs the right hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that the Report of the Working Party has been before him for a long time now and that it contains a number of recommendations which are welcomed not only by the hire-cab industry but by hon. Members on both sides of the House? Will he therefore expedite the bringing forward of proposals to carry out some of these recommendations and at the same time bear in mind the 30-year-old report of his predecessors which would give him the opportunity of dealing with the menace of the pirate in the taxi industry?
§ Mr. BrockwayDid not the right hon. and gallant Gentleman say in the House of Commons before the Summer Recess that he would give attention to these recommendations and would make a statement? Will he at least proceed with the very simple proposal that station ranks should be open to all taxicab drivers who wish to use them?
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeI have dealt with that particular part of the Report before, as the hon. Member for Eton and Slough (Mr. Brockway) knows. The fact of the matter is that these are very lengthy reports and do not deal only with that particular subject. It will take time to go through them. I will expedite it. If the hon. Gentleman cares to ask me a Question later, I will give him what information I can.