Road Safety Bill [HL]

It is my misfortune to have to navigate between the Scylla of the position of the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, and the Charybdis of my noble friend’s one—one in favour of reducing regulation and the other introducing I am not sure what. My noble friend did not specify what improvement he wanted to see in police officers’ driving. We are all mindful of those cases which, from time to time, hit the headlines, when mishaps occur during emergency driving. It goes without saying that authorities responding to emergencies need to take special care when driving and need to have high-level skills. That is why there is high-level training for such drivers. I bear in mind my noble friend’s anxiety. I assure the noble Earl, Lord Atlee, that we do not seek to place an unnecessary burden on those persons providing driver training to members of the emergency services or defence organisations. New Section 124 allows the Secretary of State to prescribe by regulations the circumstances in which the registration requirements set out in new Section 123 will not apply. That provision will enable exemptions to be made, where appropriate, from a general requirement to be registered, for example, in order to enable persons to acquire experience in giving driving instruction as provided for in subsection (2) of the new Section 124. It is clear that the Bill can already adequately meet the specific needs of the police, fire, ambulance and defence organisations. We recognise that they are special categories. My noble friend may say that he is not satisfied with present standards although I believe that he reserves his criticisms for police driving. He has the right to comment on circumstances as he sees them. However, he will recognise that we have specific exemptions for such drivers and their instruction because they are in a special category. I am aware of noble Lords’ concerns about driving standards in certain sectors. My noble friend gave a sharp illustration. The Bill will enable the Secretary of State to regulate any area of driving instruction to meet the needs of different sectors and, by raising driving standards, improve road safety. Amendment No. 122B is unnecessary. It places an obligation on the Secretary of State to provide exemptions from registration even when they are not required or justified on the ground of road safety. I assure the noble Earl and the Committee that we have a Bill which provides such exemptions. I hope that I have allayed his anxieties. Also, although my noble friend Lord Berkeley can continue to raise the points that he made, we are catering for several generic categories and he has illustrated his point with only one category. On that basis, I hope that the noble Earl will feel able to withdraw the amendment.