Clause 10 - Accident regulations
Railways and Transport Safety Bill
12:00 pm
Mrs Anne McIntosh (Vale of York, Conservative)
I hear your strictures, Mr. Hurst, and will follow them to the letter.
The Ministers told us on Tuesday to expect an important announcement from the Health and Safety Commission that would have a bearing on the clause. In the absence of any further advice from the Ministers, I understand that that statement was released in the letter to which the Secretary of State referred, and which has now been put in the Library. The notes that the Library prepared refer to the role of the Health and Safety Executive:
''Clause 10 allows the secretary of state to make regulations which would allow requirements to be made for the reporting of both rail accidents and incidents to the RAIB. Currently all accidents are reported to the HSE and BTP when they occur and all incidents are reported to the HSE. The government proposed in the consultation document that the industry added another body, the RAIB, to the list of those who need to be reported to when an accident occurs. It did not propose the separate reporting of incidents to the RAIB and HSE but thought that the RAIB would have the right to obtain that information from the HSE as well as industry and HSE reports.''
I merely ask what bearing that work by the Health and Safety Executive will have on future work on the European rail traffic management system. Perhaps the Under-Secretary can confirm that the statement that we were expecting from the Health and Safety Executive is the one that has now been placed in the Library. That would be most helpful.
Subsection (2)(a) gives the Secretary of State far-ranging powers to make regulations that may
''require a person to notify the Rail Accident Investigation Branch of a railway accident or railway incident''.
Is that provision the same as those for, say, a serious road accident, when the drivers of the vehicles are obliged to report the accident to the police. Does subsection (2) create a new requirement for a person to give notification of such an accident? That raises the question of who that person might be. By implication, will the clause enable regulations to describe who that person should be? The clause is limited and could go much further by detailing what the regulations will specify. We are not assisted by the Library, which informs us that certain consultations took place, but does not report them in any detail.
Subsection (2) further says that the regulations may
''make provision about the timing, form and content of notice given by virtue of paragraph (a).''
It is important to elicit from the Government an indication of whether, for example, there will be a 24-hour period in which a person—again, it will be interesting to know who that person should be—should inform the railway accident investigation branch of a railway accident or incident. The Under-Secretary indicated that there are certain circumstances in which a person is not obliged to report a road accident. It is my clear understanding that a road accident must be reported if there is a fatality or a person is injured, even if only slightly. I seek an assurance that the regulations will specify that, because we are still in the dark about whether every accident will be deemed to be a railway accident or incident when a person is killed or seriously injured.
Can the Minister confirm that the regulations will specify the severity of the accident or incident and will state that precise circumstances? He alluded to circumstances in which an accident needs to be reported and there is substantial damage to property—presumably the carriage, the railway station or dwelling houses adjacent to or abutting the station. We need more information about the precise scope of the regulations.
Subsection (3) says:
''The regulations may, in particular, require a person to take or not to take specified action following an accident or incident—
(a) pending the commencement of an investigation, or
(b) during the process of an investigation.''
The Minister may like to draw on the experience of the other two branches of investigation, the marine and aviation accident investigation branches, to help us this morning. Subsection (3) is not sufficiently clear and we need further information.
Subsection (4) states that the regulation may create an offence. I imagine that it will be a new offence, but we are told that it would not be an offence
''punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding the maximum term which may be imposed by a magistrates' court in accordance with section 78 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000''.
It would be helpful to know what the terms of the offence are, even in the broadest outline. I am sure that the Minister must have some idea of that. When are the Government going to produce these regulations? The clause is illuminating up to a point but leaves huge scope for the enabling regulations. The Minister for Transport indicated earlier that the regulations would
be produced shortly after the Bill receives Royal Assent and he must have more detailed knowledge that could help us to understand the clause better. The Under-Secretary may be in a position to share that with us.
I am particularly concerned about subsection (4)(b). It confers on the Secretary of State ''a discretionary function''. I always shudder when I hear that expression, although less so when it applies to the present Secretary of State than when it applied to his predecessor. What will that discretionary function be? What is the purpose of conferring a discretionary function by regulation, rather than specifying it in the Bill? What is the remit of the function? Who would exercise it on behalf of the Secretary of State? We know that the present Secretary of State is a very busy man.
Can the Under-Secretary confirm that clause 10(4)(c) is the normal format for conferring jurisdiction on a court or tribunal? Obviously, the situation will be different in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland and Scotland, but will he confirm whether the clause will apply to all parts of the United Kingdom? As the explanatory notes do not specify anything else, I can only assume that it will.
The explanatory notes also say that the additional staffing needed by the Department for Transport for the rail accident investigation branch is identified in table 1 of the regulatory impact assessment. It is anticipated that 14 professional staff and eight support staff will be needed. I assume that those are the inspectors and investigators that were referred to earlier. Will the Under-Secretary put my mind at rest and assure me that clause 10 will not lead to further employment, but that the functions of clause 10 will be carried out by those who already work for the Department?
To recap, we believe that clause 10 is misleading and does not go far enough. We need to know who will be required to notify the rail accident investigation branch in the case of a fatality or serious injury and what the timing will be. Will it be 24 hours, three months or a year? We also need to know the content of the notice given under subsection (2)(a) and whether it will be published in the usual way or in the form of a letter, leaving it, as my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Randall) said, to the vagaries of the Post Office. Finally, I seek guidance on who will discharge the discretionary function, and would welcome a little more information about the offence created by the clause.