Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Sentencing Council on the offence of refusing carriage to an assistance dog.

Dominic Raab

It is an offence under section 168 of the Equalities Act 2010 to refuse to take an assistance dog in a taxi or private hire vehicle. The maximum penalty is up to £1,000. Sentencing is a matter for the independent courts. There is no evidence that courts are finding their sentencing powers insufficient. The Sentencing Council considers the case for guidelines on the basis of a number of factors, including where data suggests there may be inconsistency in sentencing.