Motion
Moved by
That the Bill do now pass.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport () (Con)
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to the
consideration of the Bill. Your Lordships’ invaluable insights,
careful consideration and scrutiny have helped guide government
amendments and resulted in a Bill that is not only in excellent
shape but is one which I am confident we are sending to the other
place with a consensus from your Lordships’ House.
As I mentioned at Second Reading, the Government have been
committed to bringing forward this legislation when parliamentary
time allowed. I am pleased to have had the privilege of taking
this small but very important Bill through the House, and that
your Lordships have been united in supporting the principle
behind the Bill—namely, addressing the legal anomaly concerning
London’s pedicabs.
Before I move on to my thanks, I will first draw noble Lords’
attention to an update following Report last week. My department
published guidance on 1 February relating to the safe use of
batteries in e-cycles and e-scooters. This matter has been raised
consistently throughout the Bill’s passage through this
House.
The guidance will raise awareness for owners on how to safely
purchase an e-cycle or e-scooter and ensure that these meet
manufacturing requirements and are bought only from reputable
sellers. Other matters covered by the guidance included safe
storage and charging, the warning signs for fire risk and how to
address them, and how to dispose of batteries responsibly. I hope
your Lordships consider this a helpful development and, as I
mentioned in my comments on Report, the Office for Product Safety
& Standards, and Defra, are in the process of reviewing the
position with regard to batteries.
I now commence my thanks by recognising the critical role of my
honourable friend , the Member for the Cities of
London and Westminster, in raising awareness of the issue of
pedicab regulation in London. She has been a tireless campaigner
and shown commitment and determination in ensuring the
legislation be brought before Parliament.
I am also most grateful for the constructive way the Opposition
Front Benches have engaged with the Bill. I thank the noble
Lords, and , and the noble Baroness, Lady
Randerson, for their thoughtful contributions both on the Floor
of the House and outside. I thank all the other noble Lords who
have contributed with such clarity; playing their part in
ensuring that the Bill we send to the other place is in great
shape. In particular, I thank my noble friend Lady Stowell of
Beeston, who has been a prominent supporter of my honourable
friend Nickie Aiken’s campaign.
I hope noble Lords will join me in thanking all the policy
officials and lawyers in both the Department for Transport and
across government, whose efforts have contributed to making the
Bill happen. I thank in particular the Bill team, Kenny Way,
Chris and Donelle, and Adam Lawless in my private office. I also
extend my gratitude to—I apologise for not having their
surnames—Diggory and Douglas, the drafters in the Office for
Parliamentary Counsel, who have prepared the Bill and its
amendments during its passage.
Finally, I thank Transport for London for its engagement and
support in bringing the Bill forward. The Bill will ensure that
TfL has the tools it needs to effectively regulate pedicabs for
the first time, and the Government look forward to a regulatory
regime being implemented. As we send the Bill to the other place,
I am confident that it will need very little, if any, amending.
The Bill will make London’s roads safer and address the
anti-social nuisance caused by rogue pedicabs.
(Lab)
My Lords, I, too, thank the officials who have worked on this
Bill and the Minister’s private office for the work they have put
in. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Davies, for taking due
account of the points that we made in the passage of the Bill. On
the main question of how this regulation is going to be
conducted, we have reached an acceptable consensus, and I thank
him very much for that. I also welcome his statement today about
the battery issue, which I think is a real public health and
safety hazard. I am glad to see the Government recognising that
and doing something about it.
This Bill, while not the most important piece of legislation we
have ever seen—indeed, I think I may have remarked before that it
basically affects two wards of a single London borough—is
nonetheless tackling something that has been a considerable
nuisance by ensuring that the pedicab sector is properly
regulated and does not damage London’s reputation as an
attractive tourist centre, which I think is very important. So we
support the Third Reading of this Bill and look forward to its
quick passage in the other place.
(LD)
My Lords, as the noble Lord, , stated, this Bill is limited
in its scope. Indeed, it probably receives virtually no
recognition beyond a couple of miles from this place—but it has
been wanted for decades because of an increasing problem. Now
this Bill is being passed in this House and sent down the
Corridor, perhaps we can look forward to pedicabs becoming an
asset to London’s tourism.
I add my thanks to the Minister and his team. They have been
exceptionally generous with their time and exceptionally
constructive in their approach. As a result, this is a much
better Bill than when it came to this House. The devolution of
powers over pedicabs to Transport for London is an issue of basic
common sense. We have achieved that, and I thank the Minister for
that and, finally, for his statement about batteries today. I had
written a piece in preparation saying they are an unresolved
issue and urging the Minister to keep working on it, but I can
now thank the Minister very much indeed for his statement. It is
not all that campaigners want—far from it—but it is a step
forward. We are making progress, and I thank him for that.
(Lab)
My Lords, I add my thanks to those of other noble Lords. Getting
this Bill through your Lordships’ House has been very interesting
process. There must have been a record number of people who went
to see the clerks in the Public Bill Office and said they would
like to add something about scooters and batteries, how you
should ride scooters and that you should not do it on the
pavement. We were all told—quite rightly—go away because it was
outside scope. Now, at least the Minister has said that he and
his department are looking at that and will also look at
batteries, which are a very important part of it. One day,
perhaps with this Government or probably the next Government, we
might see something about riding bikes, electric or otherwise,
and scooters where they are supposed to be, which is on the road,
not on the pavement.
(Con)
My Lords, I have nothing further to add. I beg to move that the
Bill do now pass.
Bill passed and sent to the Commons.
