Clause 8 - Regulations
Railways and Transport Safety Bill
9:15 am
Mrs Anne McIntosh (Vale of York, Conservative)
I am most grateful to the Minister and may be able to assist him. He said that the Government would come forward with the regulations shortly after Royal Assent, but the word ''shortly'' means different things to different people. Will he put a time scale on that?
We have not yet reached the crux of the Opposition's concern. The enabling powers given under the Civil Aviation Act 1982, for which the most recent regulations were published in 1996, specify the powers of the inspector more precisely and define his functions. I am relatively new to politics, and so perhaps can still be surprised. I should like to know whether it is normal for a clause—in a Bill that is not the most controversial before the House—to state that a function shall be conferred on the chief inspector of a branch through regulations, without the House knowing when those regulations will come into force or having a chance to be consulted on the functions.
We discussed that matter at some length under clause 7, which covers the investigator's powers. The chief inspector's powers to inspect rail accidents and to enter land, which may include private property and dwelling houses, are very extensive. The 1996 implementing regulations of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 specifically state that the inspector shall be
equipped with a summons, albeit one made under his own hand. That gives the inspector very wide-ranging powers.
In the context of the Government's own Human Rights Act 1998, I am concerned that a number of people will object to the powers and the function of the chief inspector, and that we are being asked, in good faith, to agree that those functions will be decided later. I will revert to a similar point later in our discussions. The Minister is taking an awful lot for granted if he believes that the Opposition will agree to confer functions on the chief inspector through enabling legislation without having had any indication of what those functions might be.
The powers of the chief inspector are extensive, and the impact of a rail accident will be fairly localised. We are not considering the situation of a tanker accident at sea, or an air accident on the scale of Lockerbie, where damage and the fallout from the aircraft are spread over very large areas. The impact will be localised, and it should be easy to identify the affected areas. However, I ask the Minister to allow us to discuss the functions of the chief inspector. This is an appropriate point at which to discuss that, as the Secretary of State promised that we could have a lengthy and full debate in the Committee about the contents of the various clauses. Will the Minister share with us the functions of the chief inspector and the way in which the inspector will discharge those functions?