§ Dr. Iddon:To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Government's guidelines on consultation have been followed in the case of the regulation of licensed taxi and private hire vehicle services in the UK; and if she will make a statement. 140613]
§ Mr. Sutcliffe:The Office of Fair Trading published a report on the regulation of licensed taxis and private Hire vehicles on 11 November, making recommendations to the Government, which the Government is now considering. In coming to conclusions Government is listening to the views of stakeholders on the proposals put forward by OFT. However Government are not undertaking a consultation or endeavouring to repeat the work undertaken by the OFT in preparing its report. I am aware that Ministers responsible for transport policy have ensured that key stakeholders have been made aware that the OFT have published their report and indicated that they would prefer early feedback to inform their consideration of the report.
Should the Government decide in principle to move forward with regulatory change, there will be a full 112W consultation on any proposals, which will of course abide by our consultation guidelines and allow at least 12 weeks for responses.