Draft Specified Agreement on Driving Disqualifications
Regulations 2017
The Committee consisted of the following Members:
Chair: Sir
† Bebb, Guto (Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury)
Beckett, Margaret (Derby South) (Lab)
† Blackman, Bob (Harrow East) (Con)
Brown, Alan (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)
† Foxcroft, Vicky (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)
† Freer, Mike (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
† Gove, Michael (Surrey Heath) (Con)
† Harper, Mr Mark (Forest of Dean) (Con)
† Jones, Andrew (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Transport)
† Knight, (Solihull) (Con)
† McDonald, Andy (Middlesbrough) (Lab)
† Metcalfe, Stephen (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)
† Shuker, Mr Gavin (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)
Smith, Angela (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)
† Sturdy, (York Outer) (Con)
† Sunak, Rishi (Richmond (Yorks)) (Con)
Jonathan Whiffing, Committee Clerk
† attended the Committee
Third Delegated Legislation Committee
Monday 24 April 2017
[Sir in the Chair]
Draft Specified Agreement on Driving Disqualifications
Regulations 2017
4.30 pm
-
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport
(Andrew Jones)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Specified
Agreement on Driving Disqualifications Regulations 2017.
It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your
chairmanship, Sir David. This draft statutory instrument is
being made to reintroduce an agreement to allow for the
mutual recognition of driving disqualifications between the
United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. I am sure that
colleagues recall the previous arrangement under the 1998
European convention on driving disqualifications, which
ceased to apply in the UK on 1 December 2014 when the UK
exercised its right to opt out of various EU police and
criminal justice matters under the Lisbon treaty.
I am sure that we all know that the UK has one of the best
road safety records in the world, and this co-operation
among the Administrations in Great Britain, Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will improve it
further. This measure is particularly important for the
people of Northern Ireland, which shares a 310-mile border
with the Republic that about 15,000 people cross daily at
300 crossing points. Last year, traffic accidents caused 68
people needlessly to lose their lives in Northern Ireland.
If a British or Northern Irish driver receives an instant
disqualification from driving while travelling in the
Republic—for drink-driving or causing a serious injury to
another road user, for example—that disqualification can
follow the individual back home. The same is true for Irish
drivers disqualified here in Britain or in Northern
Ireland.
The treaty that our Governments have negotiated is almost
identical to the now defunct European convention on driving
disqualifications, but there is one important difference.
There was a loophole in that convention’s wording that
allowed some drivers to escape a ban following them home by
falsely claiming normal residence in the country where the
offence occurred. We have amended the wording to close that
loophole, thus ensuring that those unscrupulous individuals
who seek to escape punishment can no longer do so.
The mutual recognition process is straightforward. When a
British or Northern Irish court determines that a driver is
to be disqualified and that driver is normally resident in
Ireland—the driver can hold any driving licence; it can be
an Irish or EU licence or another licence—the driver will
be able to appeal the decision. If the appeal is either
heard and rejected or not filed, the Driver and Vehicle
Licensing Agency will write to the Road Safety Authority in
Ireland and inform it that a driver resident in Ireland has
been disqualified. The case will then be referred to the
Irish courts, and the judges there will decide whether to
uphold the ban. The same will be true of British and
Northern Irish drivers disqualified in Ireland.
These measures should not be considered a double
punishment; drivers will have a right of appeal against the
initial ban and against the ban applying in the country of
normal residence, but a driver who commits an offence
serious enough to merit instant disqualification needs to
be taken off the road for the appropriate duration in both
the UK and Ireland. If an Irish court imposes additional
punishments, such as forcing a driver to resit their
driving test or take an extended driving test, we in Great
Britain and Northern Ireland will similarly impose such
additional punishments and requirements.
I point out to colleagues that any driving disqualification
arising from totting up of penalty points is not covered by
these measures, because penalty points are not assessed in
the same way in Ireland. Although Northern Ireland and
Ireland are engaged in bilateral discussions through the
North South Ministerial Council about mutual recognition of
penalty points, that is still work in progress.
This agreement between the UK and Ireland about mutual
recognition of disqualifications will not be affected by
our decision to leave the EU. As the Prime Minister herself
stated only earlier this year following a meeting with the
Taoiseach, the ability to move freely across the border is
an essential part of daily life for the people of Ireland
and Northern Ireland. That is why the Taoiseach and the
Prime Minister have both been clear that there will be no
return to the borders of the past. Maintaining the common
travel area and excellent economic links will be important
for both countries in the talks ahead.
4.34 pm
-
(Middlesbrough)
(Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir
David. I shall be mercifully brief. Labour fully supports
the regulations. It is of course entirely sensible that
there should be mutual recognition of driving
disqualification between the Governments of the UK and the
Republic of Ireland. The agreement will mean that a driving
disqualification imposed in the Republic on a UK resident
or the holder of a UK driving licence will be recognised
and given effect in the UK. Accordingly, a person
disqualified in the Republic will not be able to hop across
the border to the north and drive there.
The legal basis for such an agreement was in place between
January 2010 and December 2014, until the UK opted out of
the European convention on driving disqualifications of 17
June 1998, following the Lisbon treaty; so it is somewhat
disconcerting that there has been a legislative black hole
for more than two years. No doubt, however, the Minister
will explain the length of the gap and expand upon why it
has taken the Government from December 2014 to May 2017 to
re-establish the legal basis for the mutual agreement with
the Irish Government.
Without an acceptable explanation or justification
observers would be perfectly entitled to wonder at the
Government’s sense of priority and urgency, or lack
thereof, which sadly characterises their approach to road
safety issues. It is worrying that for more than two years
there have been no provisions in place to stop dangerous
drivers who have committed road offences in the Republic of
Ireland driving in the UK, or vice versa. The regulations
are a much-needed measure and will undoubtedly make our
roads safer. It is just terribly disappointing that the
Government did not seek to correct the position before. It
is imperative that every opportunity, legislative or
otherwise, should be taken to make our roads the safest
they can possibly be.
The Government have failed in their manifesto commitment to
reduce road casualties year on year, and have scrapped the
road safety targets that were introduced under Labour. I
cannot see why Ministers have persistently refused to bring
those back, especially when we support international
targets at United Nations and European level. The targets
focus minds and attention, and a Labour Government would
certainly bring them back. As I have said, Labour fully
supports the regulations, which will make a small but
highly important contribution to making our roads a safer
place for all users, against what has been a worrying
backward trend in recent years.
4.37 pm
-
There were a couple of questions there, to which I should
like to reply. It has taken a little while to make the
arrangements, but the Irish constitution forbids the making
of agreements of this nature by memorandum of understanding
or a similar more formal instrument. Treaties are therefore
required, and it takes time for them to be agreed, signed,
ratified and deposited. That, simply, has been the case in
this instance; it is not a question of a failure of
priority.
I thank the Opposition for their support for the measure.
It will make our roads safer, which is something we are all
working towards. I do not think that the introduction of
targets is critical in doing that. I do not need a target
to tell me that road safety is important. We do not need a
target to work on producing a road safety statement, which
we published in December 2015, or to increase the penalties
for mobile phone use while driving, or to seek to tackle
the 50 least safe roads on our network with funding from
the autumn statement. We are doing an enormous amount on
road safety. Targets could be fine in other parts of the
world; I have no problem with that. However, they are not
needed here, where we are on top of the agenda and doing
good work.
I hope that I have answered the questions satisfactorily. I
am pleased that the measures have cross-party support, and
look forward to their being implemented soon.
Question put and agreed to.
4.39 pm
Committee rose.