Whether it will provide an update on when, and whether, it plans to take action regarding provisions in the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scot…

Taxis and Private Hire Cars (PHCs) are licensed under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (“the 1982 Act”).Section 22 of the 1982 Act currently provides that Taxi/ PHC licensing does not apply to any vehicle while it is being used for carrying passengers for its exclusive hire for a period of not less than 24 hours. This is commonly referred to as the ‘contract exemption’ and allows drivers and vehicles being used exclusively for contract work to fall out with the Taxi/ PHC licensing regime.The Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 made provisions that can be used for the removal of the contract exemption. When brought into force this will bring vehicles being used in such a manner into the Taxi/ PHC licensing regime as set out in the 1982 Act. However, the contract exemption remains in place at present.There have been discussions with stakeholders in relation to the contract exemption over a period of time and these discussions have raised a number of practical issues to assess before the contract exemption is removed.Further information is available in Chapter 5 of the Taxi and PHC licensing best practice guidance document published by the Scottish Government in 2023.In 2025, the Scottish Government convened a Task Force on Civic Licensing to review a range of existing licensing provisions of the 1982 Act. One of the licensing policy areas being looked at is the legislation in relation to Taxi and PHC Licensing, and this includes the contract exemption issue.It is expected that a report setting out any proposed reform, recommendations and potential changes to the 1982 Act, including in relation to the current Taxi/PHC licensing regime, will be presented to the Scottish Ministers for consideration in the next few months.The report will be considered carefully by the Scottish Government before any next steps are taken.