Road Safety Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 6:"After Clause 1, insert the following new clause—"    ““NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY ACCREDITATION SCHEMES (1)   The Secretary of State may, if he considers it appropriate to   do so for the purpose specified in subsection (3), establish and maintain a scheme (““a national road safety accreditation scheme””). (2)   A national road safety accreditation scheme is a scheme for the exercise nationally by persons accredited by him under section (Accreditation under national road safety accreditation schemes) of the powers conferred by their accreditation under that section. (3)   The purpose of a national road safety accreditation scheme is to contribute to national road safety by ensuring compliance with the Goods Vehicles Licensing of Operators Act 1995 (c. 23) and section 41 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52) (regulation of construction, weight, equipment and use of vehicles). (4)   Before establishing a national road safety accreditation scheme the Secretary of State shall consult such persons as he thinks fit.”” The noble Earl said: It may be convenient if I speak also to Amendments Nos. 7, 8 and 21. I remind the Committee of my interest listed at col. 915 on 8 June at Second Reading. VOSA, the Vehicle and Operators Services Agency, formerly the Vehicle Inspectorate, has the power to stop the vehicle on the road for the purposes of a test. That power derives from the Police Reform Act 2002. Section 41 provides for accreditation under the community safety accreditation scheme. Those are normally local schemes with local employees accredited by local police. VOSA inspectors operate on a much wider area, even in a region or across regional boundaries. For instance, a VOSA vehicle inspector operating out of Reading, west of London, will need to   be accredited by the Metropolitan Police, the Hertfordshire Police, the Thames Valley Police and the Surrey Police merely to look after the western half of the   M25. That is not efficient use of scarce resources of either VOSA or the police. Those VOSA employees are either employees of the Secretary of State or of his agent. The powers that they enjoy are much tougher because they can already prohibit the vehicle moving if it has a defect under powers in the Road Traffic Acts. Having to accredit each VOSA inspector with many police forces is both unnecessary and bureaucratic. Also, police forces do not like doing it because they can add nothing to the process. My amendment would allow the Secretary of State to accredit those officials instead of the police. I beg to move.