Clause 8 - Driving record
Road Safety Bill [Lords]
9:30 am
Alistair Carmichael (Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Transport; Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)
The Minister’s contrition is a model to us all. We have probably taken the question of insurance companies as far as it can go, but I am grateful to him for having raised that example. Such powers come with a strong health warning, and he has served the Committee well by giving us an example of how dangerous they can be.
My other point is perhaps a little more positive. Subsection (2) reads:
“The Secretary of State may make arrangements for the following persons to have access, by such means as the Secretary of State may determine, to information held on a person’s driving record”.
Might clerks of court, for example, be allowed direct access from their own computer terminals in the courts? I see the Minister nodding. That is exceptionally helpful. The time lost in court cases waiting for print-outs from the DVLA, whatever their quality when they eventually arrive, has been exceptionally costly. If we can circumvent that, it is certainly to be encouraged.
The point that interests me, however—perhaps the Minister will clarify it—is that the provision says
“by such means as the Secretary of State may determine”.
How is it envisaged that that would be done? Clearly a power is given to the Secretary of State, but it does not seem to be one that would require any further reference to Parliament. That ties in with the possibility under paragraph (e) of extending the list of people. I would have no difficulty with the Secretary of State being able to issue guidance to the DVLA allowing certain people access at their computers, but if the
“other persons prescribed in regulations”
under paragraph (e) were to be more broadly framed, I would certainly want some reference back to Parliament, not just on the list of people who would be allowed access but on the means by which they would be allowed access.