We work across Government to ensure that safeguarding practice is as safe as it can be in the taxi and private hire sector. The issue has been discussed at an inter-ministerial group chaired by the Home Secretary. The Government have committed to legislate for national minimum standards, which will include making it a legal requirement that licensees undertake safeguarding awareness training. However, I encourage all licensing authorities to act now and use their existing powers to protect passengers.

My hon. Friend touches on an important piece of work that is being carried out across a number of Departments, including the Home Office and the Department for Education, and in local government. In the Department for Transport, we are looking to obtain the powers to create a national minimum standard, which will be quite high, and a national database, and to increase enforcement powers for traffic commissioners. Put together, all those things will ensure that the quality of service and safety for people when they enter a private hire vehicle is the same up and down the country.

Assistance dogs are vital to the independence of many disabled people, and their continual refusal by a minority of taxi and private hire vehicle drivers is inexcusable. I am grateful to the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Andrew Jones), for his commitment to addressing this issue and eliminating this discrimination. My hon. Friend makes a profound case, and my Department will do all it can to support this important work.

Under the Equality Act 2010 it is illegal for the driver of a taxi or private hire vehicle to refuse to carry an assistance dog unless they hold a medical exemptions certificates issued by the local licensing authority. It is unacceptable that some drivers continue to discriminate in this way and I am determined that this practice must stop.

Guidance has previously been issued to licensing authorities to support their implementation of these legal protections, and we are currently reviewing Best Practice Guidance to strengthen the recommendations relating to taxi and PHV accessibility more generally.

I am clear that the local licensing authorities should play their part in eradicating such harmful discrimination.

The Department has previously issued guidance to licensing authorities on the application of the law regarding the carriage of guide and assistance dogs in taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs), including their role in responding to allegations of non-compliance.

The Department is currently reviewing existing Best Practice Guidance on the licensing of taxis and PHVs, with a view to consulting stakeholders on a revised version in 2017. This will include strengthened recommendations relating to the training of drivers in disability awareness and equality.

The Department is committed to developing an Accessibility Action Plan (AAP) which will allow disabled people to access education, to get to work, see family and friends and to enjoy leisure activities.

The needs of assistance dog owners, including those who work with guide dogs, have informed the development of the actions which we intend to include in the AAP.

The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) has advised the Department on the broad content and scope of the AAP.

We aim to consult on the draft document by the end of the calendar year with the intention of publishing a final version by mid-2017.