Minister signals support for mandatory taxi CCTV to curb grooming gang exploitation

Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood has said she is open to making CCTV compulsory in taxis across England, as the government prepares to tighten licensing rules in response to concerns about grooming gangs exploiting weaknesses in the system.

Giving evidence to the Commons Transport Committee, Greenwood said ministers “cannot be complacent” about the need to strengthen safeguards, following Baroness Casey’s review into group‑based child sexual exploitation. The review found taxis had been used by offenders in multiple towns and cities and urged the government to introduce tougher, nationally consistent standards.

At present, private hire drivers can obtain a licence from any local authority and operate almost anywhere in the country. Critics say this has encouraged “licence shopping”, allowing drivers to bypass stricter regimes such as Rotherham’s “gold standard” scheme, which includes mandatory CCTV.

Greenwood told MPs she did not want to “demonise the trade” but accepted that a minority of drivers had played a role in “absolutely awful abuse of girls in our communities”. Asked whether she supported CCTV in principle, she said it was “something we absolutely ought to be open to considering”, acknowledging that the measure could prove controversial.

She added that CCTV could improve safety “for passengers but also for drivers”, noting that only around 8% of councils currently require cameras in cabs.

Concerns over ‘race to the bottom’

Baroness Casey’s review praised Rotherham Council for going “above and beyond” in reforming its licensing system after its own grooming scandal, but warned that progress was being undermined by weaker standards elsewhere. She urged ministers to act “immediately” to close loopholes that allow drivers to obtain licences in one area and work in another.

The government now plans to introduce powers to set national minimum standards through the English Devolution Bill, aiming to reduce incentives for drivers to seek out cheaper or less stringent licensing regimes.

A BBC investigation previously revealed the scale of licence shopping, with one in five private hire vehicles in England licensed by Wolverhampton City Council. Fewer than 4% of the city’s nearly 50,000 licence holders were operating locally, with many working as far away as Newcastle, Somerset, Cardiff and Skegness.

Labour MP Laurence Turner warned the committee that Wolverhampton’s dominance risked creating a “race to the bottom”, saying some councils were reluctant to impose higher standards for fear drivers would simply register elsewhere.

Greenwood said she shared concerns about the concentration of licences in Wolverhampton, although she noted the council carried out daily safeguarding checks against national databases. “I don’t want people to be shopping around for licences,” she said.

New database planned

The minister also confirmed that funding had been allocated for a new national database to support security checks and improve cross‑border enforcement — a longstanding challenge under the current fragmented system.