Local Transport Bill [HL]

We are a bit puzzled by some of the reasoning behind the amendment. If a traffic commissioner is called on to decide whether a proposed registration is detrimental to a quality partnership scheme, he or she will decide that it is or is not detrimental following consultation with the relevant local authorities and operators. If it is decided that it is not detrimental, the commissioner must accept the application and register the service. If the commissioner is persuaded that it would be detrimental, he or she can either refuse it outright or ask for it to be amended in some other way. I do not see how amending it to require the service to be operated for a minimum period would in most cases be compatible with a decision that the registration would be detrimental in the first place. The provisions already contained in the Bill, if enacted, will enable an authority to introduce a registration restriction, which stipulates that services within the area of the scheme should be operated as registered for a minimum period. However, there might be services for which a shorter registration period would be appropriate—for example, a tourist service that operates only during the summer holidays. If such a condition were to be in place, the traffic commissioner could accept only an application to operate for a shorter period or to vary or withdraw a service after such a period of time as the relevant authorities and operators were content. Any subsequent failure by the operator to provide the service for the period of the registration could lead to enforcement action by the traffic commissioner. The other option would be for the Secretary of State to make regulations under the Transport Act 1985 to impose a longer notice period for registrations in the areas where a quality partnership scheme is in place. This is an option that the department will consider in consultation with others in due course, but that would be a rather more rigid approach, which would apply everywhere, whereas the imposition of registration conditions would give each area much greater flexibility. We conclude that the amendment is unnecessary and that the options that I believe the noble Lord wishes to have available are probably already in the Bill. I hope that that explanation helps the noble Lord, and more particularly I hope that it helps him to withdraw his amendment.