Taxi Driver Online

Came across this recent question via Taxi Point

Not sure if it could be one of those planted questions. But it's a tad different from the norm in that it's been asked of a department (whatever it is, precisely - local government, in the main), other than transport.

Which is why the other half of the question is a tad tangential to the trade...

The response below only shows the trade element, and I've highlighted the substantive element of the answer in my favourite colour


Answered on 18 December 2025

Clive Betts, Labour, Sheffield South East

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of moving (a) further powers and (b) responsibilities for (i) taxi licensing and (ii) youth services from constituent unitary councils to Mayoral Combined Authorities.


Miatta Fahnbulleh, Labour, Peckham

Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government remains committed to consulting on whether to make all Local Transport Authorities (including Mayoral Combined Authorities) responsible for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing. Administering the regime across this larger footprint would increase the consistency of standards; create greater economies of scale; and enable more effective use of enforcement powers across a whole functional economic area.

Anyway, if you want to read an extended version of the answer, then Taxi Point has usefully, er, enhanced and embellished it all, thus turning the 30 or so words of the substantive answer above into an article of around 600 words (including headline and pull quote)


Ministers set out three potential industry gains if new regional taxi and PHV licensing reform arrives

https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/minis ... form-arriv

The Government has identified three core benefits it believes would be delivered to the taxi and private hire vehicle industry by shifting licensing responsibilities from individual councils to larger regional bodies, including Mayoral Combined Authorities.

Not that there's anything wrong with the piece, or anything obviously incorrect. And it's 'written' in the usual perfect prose

But, to an extent at least, it's all a bit stating the obvious, albeit in hugely padded out terms. And largely stuff that's been rehashed umpteen times now, particularly over the past three months.

And the slightly odd quality to it all is maybe demonstrated by the highlighted sentence in the final paragraph here:


I mean, the "clearest indication yet of the outcomes [the Government] expects"?

To repeat, this is all the minister said in her response, in substantive terms at least:


Which is just the stuff that's been repeated, rehashed and recycled over and over again now for some time. So hardly the 'clearest indication yet'

And I'd guess the substantive answer was actually just provided by the DfT as a summary of previous stuff simply for the purposes of answering the parliamentary question

And think my thread title within the confines of the character limit probably explains it all well enough for many on here