Clause 1 - Road safety grants
Road Safety Bill
9:45 am
Mr Christopher Chope (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; Christchurch, Conservative)
The amendment tries to probe the Government a bit further on road safety grants. I do not believe that anyone is opposed to expenditure on road safety. Indeed, many people would criticise the Government for not having invested enough in it. Nor are we against giving grants. However, we would like the Minister to explain why the safety camera partnerships that have been set up in almost every area of the country, and which comprise local authorities, police authorities and others, are not able to spend their resources on road safety in the way in which this clause says that money can be spent. If the partnerships were able to spend money on road safety without constraint, there would be no need for the clause.
My second question, of which I gave notice, is about how clause 1 interacts with clause 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill. It is becoming increasingly difficult to follow road traffic law, as the Government are introducing so many different pieces of legislation that affect road safety. Indeed, many are being debated in this House at the same time. Clauses in this Bill and in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill deal with insurance. This clause authorises road safety grants, and clause 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill makes provision for payments by the Secretary of State to police authorities for the prevention, detection and enforcement of traffic offences in respect of seat belts, lighting, insurance, licences, test certificates, inadequate registration marks and so on. If such payments can be made under clause 132 of that Bill for the prevention of traffic offences, why is clause 1 necessary in this Bill?
Perhaps the Minister could discuss clause 132, which is, in essence, a Department of Transport clause in a Home Office Bill, and also the problem that I have identified. The notes on clauses for the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill contained absolutely nothing about why clause 132 is necessary, what it hoped to achieve and what sums of money might be at stake.
I hope that the Minister will be able to respond to some of those questions and explain in some detail why he feels that safety camera partnerships should not be able to re-invest their proceeds. They are awash with money as a result of the Government's policy of increasing the number of penalties through the establishment of fixed cameras.