My Lords, on the previous grouping, I was pleased to make it clear that the Government have taken on board the thoughts of this House in putting, basically, the duties around road safety, the environment and co-operation in the Bill. While safety is obviously always at the forefront of our minds, it now seems that given the language in the statutory
directions and guidance and what will go in the Bill, we have both belt and braces. If we were to follow the amendments recommended by the noble Lords, Lord Whitty and Lord Berkeley, we would put on constraints which, frankly, would remove flexibility on how to approach these issues and make the strategic highways company somehow responsible for issues that it could not possibly control. The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, was eloquent in describing that.
One of the principles of the entire roads reform programme is to give the company operational freedom to achieve its objectives. Amendment 15 runs entirely counter to that, and could lock out potential benefits by forcing the company to focus on an important but narrow aspect of road safety; namely, road infrastructure safety ratings. That is a restraint on effective management for the purposes of safety, not a support to it. Both those issues—the constraints that this would impose and the fact that a significant number of these issues are simply not under the control of the SHC—seem to argue for the withdrawal of the amendment and for the use of the belt and braces which we have already agreed will be in place. There is no need to seek a legal requirement to appraise different types of intervention on the basis that some of the amendments propose, because they are already in the Bill. The company will continue to use the department’s transport appraisal guidance, which ensures that interventions are considered on a consistent and proportionate basis.
I come now to the duties of the monitor. In Committee, and just now, your Lordships were persuasive about the need to help improve road safety and the environment. As noble Lords know, we have said that we will move an amendment on that, and your Lordships have been able to see the much stronger and detailed language now in the guidance and direction. Therefore, this amendment should be seen as not only requiring the Secretary of State to have regard to safety and the environment when setting or varying the strategy, but also indirectly generating objectives on those areas that the company would be bound to pursue—thus subject to the independent scrutiny of the watchdog and the monitor.
In Committee, your Lordships made it very clear that consultation over and above the work carried out by the company through the route strategies and the engagement that the Government will carry out as they set or vary the strategy is needed. To provide reassurance that we will engage with the public and shareholders, we are happy to include this requirement in the Bill as well. Government Amendments 28 to 31, if accepted, would add this requirement and some of the necessary consequential changes.
New powers for the monitor contained in other amendments, which we will discuss later—I believe reference was made to Amendment 48 in a later group—would place the ORR in a different role in relation to the new company. In our original drafts of the Bill it was an advisory body; it is now able to act in the manner of an independent regulator. A regulator has formal duties, which it must work within when carrying out its activities. The ORR’s role on the roads demands the same approach. The ORR itself has asked for a set of duties to be included in the Bill, so it has a firm basis from which to act.
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The duties in Amendment 43 are designed to ensure that the monitor is always mindful of the need to encourage better performance and greater efficiency. I must stress that performance covers all aspects of the company’s performance. It includes everything from the company’s ability to meet its environmental obligations to its effectiveness in ensuring network safety, as set out in the statutory directions and guidance and in the road investment strategy. The two themes of performance and efficiency will enhance the effectiveness of the company.
However, they must not be pursued without reference to wider goals. For that reason, we have included six factors that must be regarded when considering how to drive performance and efficiency. These are: the interests of users of the highways; their safety; the effect on the economy; the effect on the environment; the long-term health of the network; and the principles of better regulation—namely, to regulate only where action is needed and in a way that is transparent, accountable, proportionate and consistent. This will ensure that the views and actions of the monitor remain balanced, and continue to reflect the need for our roads to work as part of a wider society.
I move to Amendments 44 to 47. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, for his amendments, which will change our proposed Amendment 43. I believe we are very much in agreement about what we want the monitor to achieve and the only difference between us is over a mechanism for achieving this. I agree wholeheartedly on the importance of considering the safety of those who work on the network. This is an important priority for the new company, and rightly so. However, it is also covered by existing health and safety laws, which the noble Lord refers to in his own amendment, and which the company will be required to comply with. We do not think it is appropriate for the monitor to take over the responsibilities of the experts at the Health and Safety Executive in this area. We are also reassured that the monitor, in going about its work, will need to take full account of the company’s statutory responsibilities, including on health and safety.
Similarly, the noble Lord suggests that the regulator should be responsible for regulatory activities that maximise efficiencies in the design, construction and operation of our strategic roads. Our amendments already ensure that the monitor is under a duty to consider the performance and efficiency of the strategic highways company. The words of subsection (3) are intended to cover the better regulation agenda, and to match those used in the Civil Aviation Act 2012. Given that we believe the points raised by the amendments are actually covered elsewhere—using a slightly different approach but with the same goals in mind—I ask that we retain the existing wording, which gives us consistency with other legislation.
The noble Lord and I part company, however, over Amendment 45, which suggests removing the monitor’s duty to focus its attention on the cases where action is needed. This appears to us common sense, and we want the monitor to have confidence that it can act in this way.
Given all the issues that I have raised and the agreement we have that additional duties will go into the Bill, giving us both belt and braces, particularly around safety, environment and co-operation, I very much hope that the Government’s amendments will be accepted and that your Lordships will feel comfortable not pressing the other amendments in the group.