Local Transport Bill [Lords]

I will deal first with new clause 12. Government policy is to encourage efficient and effective working in the highway, with works properly co-ordinated by the highways authority. Key to that is the need for the authority to be given notice of works on its highways to be carried out by undertakers, whether they are placing, maintaining or removing apparatus in or below the highways or of consequential works—for instance, carrying out a permanent reinstatement as a separate phase or works to remedy a failure to complete a reinstatement to the correct standard in the first place. That is known as ““remedial works””. All occupy the highway and impact on our crowded roads. Following a judgment by the divisional court last November, there is a lack of legal certainty about what works are required for, or incidental to, placing, maintaining or removing apparatus and what fall within the definition of street works. The amendment is intended to confirm the existing view and practice that street works include reinstatement or remedial works and to remove the uncertainty. The purpose of amendment No. 159 is to bring amendments to the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 into force automatically two months after Royal Assent rather than by commencement order. This means that any uncertainty about the definition of street works can be removed as quickly as possible. Amendment No. 162 amends the long title of the Bill, so as to reflect the subject matter of new clause 12. New clause 23 amends the definition of conditional offers in section 90F of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, so that it refers also to conditional offers made by the Department of Transport's vehicle examiners in Scotland. It is needed to ensure that the provisions inserted by the Road Safety Act 2006 into the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 will work as originally intended. Unfortunately, when the Road Safety Act 2006 was drafted, the definition of ““conditional offer”” in this context was not amended to include conditional offers issued by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency's vehicle examiners in Scotland. Unless that deficiency is corrected, only police constables will be able to require the payment of deposits in respect of conditional offers in Scotland, which is not the way in which the legislation was intended to work. Amendments Nos. 314 and 315 are minor consequential amendments to the extent clause and to the Bill's long title. Amendments Nos. 104, 112, 141 to 143, 146 and 147 are aimed at dealing with a relatively technical issue, and I shall do my best to explain them clearly to the House.