Motion on Amendment 1 Moved by Lord Davies of Gower That this House
agrees with the Commons in their Amendment 1. 1: Clause 40, page
26, line 37, at end insert— “(ca) the Welsh Ministers (in their
capacity as highways authority or traffic authority);” The
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport
(Lord Davies of Gower) (Con) My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 1
to 11. I thank colleagues for their previous engagement
and...Request free trial
Motion on Amendment 1
Moved by
That this House agrees with the Commons in their Amendment 1.
1: Clause 40, page 26, line 37, at end insert—
“(ca) the Welsh Ministers (in their capacity as highways
authority or traffic authority);”
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport () (Con)
My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 1 to 11. I thank colleagues
for their previous engagement and constructive approach to the
Bill during its passage through this House. The excellent review
carried out by your Lordships was reflected in its broad
acceptance in the other place. As a result, the Government were
required to make only minimal amendments, including minor
technical amendments.
I begin with Amendment 1. Following constructive discussions with
the Welsh Government, we tabled a clarificatory amendment to
Clause 40 to include the Welsh Ministers as an authority that may
be required to report on incidents within Wales. This follows
clarification that Welsh Ministers are a traffic authority for
the purposes of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, and a
highway authority for the purposes of the Highways Act 1980. In
our discussions with the Welsh Government, they confirmed that
they would like to see the Clause 93 powers to digitise traffic
regulation orders extended to Welsh Ministers. Previously, this
was an England-only measure. Amendments 5 to 8 make the necessary
changes to enable this.
In various places, the Bill allows the Secretary of State or the
devolved Administrations to delegate or confer functions on
traffic commissioners. The remaining amendments make minor and
technical changes to correct drafting errors in these areas.
Amendments 2 and 10 ensure that traffic commissioners are able to
recover their costs through fees made payable under the Bill when
carrying out functions that may be conferred on them under
operator licensing regulations. These amendments correct a
straightforward drafting omission; the Bill was always intended
to function in this way. Indeed, such provisions are already
included in relation to the other instances where functions are
conferred on traffic commissioners.
Amendments 3, 4 and 11 clarify that these receipts are deposited
into the correct consolidated fund, depending on the nature of
the funds. The mechanism aligns with that used for the direction
of other fee receipts and is in line with previous legislation
and current practice. These amendments do not allow for any new
taxation; they are included to make sure that fees can be
recovered, no matter who is carrying out the function, and to
ensure that those fees get paid into the right place. I hope that
that reassures my noble friend , who wrote to me yesterday on
this specific point.
These amendments also make provision so that, if the devolved
Administrations were to delegate the power to receive penalties
to the traffic commissioners, the receipts relating to those
penalties would go the appropriate devolved consolidated fund. My
officials have engaged with the devolved Administrations, who
have agreed that this matter does not require a legislative
consent Motion. I beg to move.
(LD)
My Lords, this Bill is a technical framework, with the detail
largely to follow in regulations. We on these Benches have been
generally supportive throughout the passage of the Bill and will
remain closely interested as the detail is fleshed out in
secondary legislation. We welcome the Commons amendments as
improvements—in particular to reflect the responsibilities of the
devolved Administrations. In the case of Amendments 5 to 8, the
Government have, on this occasion, listened to the
representations from the Welsh Government to extend the powers in
Clause 93 to Welsh Ministers. The Bill applies to the whole of
the UK, parts of which will—indeed, already do—have slightly
different approaches to traffic regulation. It is therefore
important to ensure that the relevant Ministers have the right
powers.
On other matters, we are disappointed that some of the issues
raised when the Bill was passing through this House were not
agreed in the Commons amendments either. A number of amendments
were tabled to the Bill about the accessibility of public
transport for disabled people, but none of these proposals was
accepted by the Government. It is nevertheless still crucial that
disabled people are involved in the developments from this
legislation to make sure that it makes transport more accessible,
not less.
Similarly, MP continued to raise the
concerns that we voiced around the protection of personal data
but, sadly, those concerns were dismissed by the Minister in the
other place. Thus we will be particularly keen to see how the
legislation addresses all the concerns that we have raised
throughout the passage of the Bill and how it ensures that the
rollout of autonomous vehicles will be both inclusive and
innovative. I will also watch with interest how the balance
between open-source and IP rights plays out.
(Lab)
My Lords, from our Benches we are very pleased that the Bill was
returned to this House by the Commons in reasonably good shape.
It is an important Bill, setting a framework for future
innovation and enterprise in a key sector. We basically agreed in
the House on this framework. We, for our part, would have
preferred a more inclusive approach, with some kind of council
that regularly brought together all concerned interests to create
a consensus on how the technology should be developed. However,
we were very pleased that the Minister listened to our concerns
on the safety standard and, indeed, accepted them.
On the Commons amendments, I make two small points, neither of
which affects our view that the Bill should now go ahead. First,
it is obviously a good idea that there is a regulatory power for
the requirement that incidents affecting autonomous vehicles are
properly notified to the authorities. We support that. Secondly,
if autonomous vehicles are to go on the whole of our road system
in due course, it is clearly necessary to have a requirement for
highway and traffic authorities to notify on a digital platform
where repairs are being done—although I must say, with the
present state of our roads and potholes, there will be an awful
lot of notifications. It is clearly necessary that there are
these regulations, but can the Minister say what timetable he
envisages for use of the regulation-making powers that we are
agreeing to in this measure?
I end by thanking the Minister and his officials for the courtesy
that they showed in explaining to us very clearly what the Bill
was about and in responding very promptly to any questions and
comments. I thank the Minister for taking this Bill forward in a
generally consensual way.
5.15pm
(Con)
My Lords, I extend my gratitude to colleagues across the House
for their supportive comments on and contributions to this Bill.
Your Lordships' careful and considered scrutiny has been hugely
valuable, and I hope that the House sees fit to agree the handful
of Commons amendments before us today.
On the question from the noble Lord, , about the timetable for
regulations, I will give a brief outline. Over the coming months,
we will launch a comprehensive programme of secondary
legislation, building the new regulatory framework piece by
piece. This will incorporate several statutory instruments,
including guidance in the form of the statement of safety
principles. Among the first elements to be consulted on will be
regulations on misleading marketing, as these can apply before
the authorisation system has been established. We expect
consultation on these to commence later this year. We plan to
consult on regulations for digitising traffic regulation orders
in the autumn, which would come into force in spring 2025. Early
work on the statement of safety principles will begin this year,
as we build and review the evidence base that will underpin them.
We expect to consult on the principles in 2025. The detailed
regulations establishing the authorisation, operator licensing
and in-use regulation functions will then follow. Full details on
the programme will be made available in due course.
The passage of the Automated Vehicles Bill means that a
self-driving future is within reach. It will be a future of safer
roads, as self-driving vehicles remove human error as a factor of
vehicle death and injury, a future where we can seize a market
worth £42 billion to our economy, creating 38,000 new jobs. The
Bill will ensure that the UK is at the forefront of a profound
technological shift, moving us closer to a safer, more efficient
and more accessible transport system that works for everyone in
the country.
Motion on Amendment 1 agreed.
Motion on Amendments 2 to 11
Moved by
That this House agrees with the Commons in their Amendments 2 to
11.
2: Clause 43, page 29, line 19, after “State” insert “or by a
traffic commissioner”
3: Clause 43, page 29, line 22, at end insert—
“(3) Money received by a traffic commissioner as a result of
regulations under section 13 must be paid into the Consolidated
Fund in such manner as the Treasury may direct.”
4: Clause 89, page 63, line 18, at end insert—
“(8) Regulations under subsection (7) made by the Scottish
Ministers or the Welsh Ministers—
(a) if they apply to a function in respect of which a fee is
payable, must also apply to the function of charging and
receiving that fee;
(b) if they apply to the function of issuing a notice under
paragraph 1 or 2 of Schedule 6 (compliance notices and monetary
penalty notices), must also apply to the functions under
paragraph 4 of that Schedule (costs notices) so far as
exercisable in connection with the first function.
(9) Money received by a traffic commissioner as a result of
regulations under subsection (7) must, unless subsection (10)
applies, be paid into the Consolidated Fund in such manner as the
Treasury may direct.
(10) Money received by a traffic commissioner under paragraph
2(2) of Schedule 6 (monetary penalties) as a result of
regulations under subsection (7) made by the Scottish Ministers
or the Welsh Ministers must be paid to those Ministers.”
5: Clause 93, page 67, line 17, at end insert “for an area in
England”
6: Clause 93, page 67, line 17, at end insert—
“(1A) The Welsh Ministers may by regulations make provision
requiring a traffic regulation authority to provide prescribed
information about a relevant traffic regulation measure for an
area in Wales.”
7: Clause 93, page 67, line 20, leave out “for an area in
England”
8: Clause 93, page 67, line 34, leave out “Secretary of State”
and insert “person making them”
9: Clause 100, page 71, line 20, leave out subsection (2)
10: Schedule 1, page 78, line 7, after “Part” insert “(other than
section 43(1))”
11: Schedule 1, page 78, line 14, at end insert—
“(5) Money received by a traffic commissioner as a result of
regulations under this paragraph must be paid into the
Consolidated Fund in such manner as the Treasury may direct.”
Motion on Amendments 2 to 11 agreed.
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