The public needs to have confidence in taxi drivers

For many women in London, a taxi home is the only option at the end of a night. My advice, and the advice of the police and many charities, is that when using a cab you should always make sure it is a black cab or a licensed minicab.

So it's really important that everyone can have confidence in the driver of the black cab they hail or the licensed minicab they order.

Today, I announced plans to give taxi firms and the authorities that licence taxis access to all relevant background information about prospective drivers before they're employed or licensed. That means firms will have access to sensitive police information about job applicants, like whether they've been arrested or cautioned and if they have been convicted of an offence.

They will also be able to access records showing whether someone has ever been barred from working with children or vulnerable adults. Together, this information will help firms and taxi licensing authorities decide whether an applicant is suitable to be employed as a driver or not.

These changes are all part of our work to bring common sense back to the criminal records regime. Common sense means tougher checks for people in sensitive jobs, like taxi drivers, and a more sensible level of checks for people like parents who want to volunteer in their child's school.

The toughening up of checks on taxi drivers is also part of our wider work to improve women's safety. That includes £10.5 million of new money for rape support centres, new action to tackle stalking, the piloting of new "go orders" that ban perpetrators of domestic violence from returning to the family home, and work looking into creating a scheme - which is sometimes called Clare's Law - to provide information on a new partner's history of domestic violence. Together, this package of measures will be a real boost to women's safety.