Whether there is a standard for accessibility to taxis for people with disabilities and whether it has any powers under the Civic Governmen…

There is no threshold at the moment in relation to the number of taxis operating in Scotland which are accessible for people with disabilities. Nor are there any powers under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 or other legislation at the present time which would provide Scottish ministers with the powers to introduce such a threshold. The powers to determine the technical specifications for accessible taxis are contained in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and are reserved to the Westminster Parliament under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998. The 1995 act provisions have not yet been commenced. Once they are commenced, the Scottish Executive will consult widely on the proposals and will introduce the provisions by means of regulations using their powers under section 20 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (as amended by section 39 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995), albeit subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament. In the short term, section 10(2) of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 provides local authorities with the discretion to determine what vehicles can operate as taxis in their area. As such, the Scottish Executive has written to councils on two occasions actively encouraging them to consider improving the level of accessible taxis in their area.