Clause 47 - Duty to inspect records
Traffic Management Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch, Conservative)
What requirements are to be laid down in relation to the availability of records? If the records are kept on a computer that can be interrogated at all hours of the day and night, that is one thing, but if the only way to gain access to them is to go down to the local authority when it is open between 9.30 am and 4.30 pm, that is a major restriction and inhibition on an entrepreneurial contractor's ability to take effective action.
We know that issues arising under this part of the Bill will often arise at short notice, at weekends, in the evenings, late at night or in the early hours of the morning. Can the Minister give us some idea of the requirements that will be placed on local authorities to ensure that the records are available to be inspected? That must surely be the fair corollary of the duty to be placed on statutory undertakers to inspect the records.