Clause 1
Vehicle Registration Marks Bill
9:30 am
Greg Knight (East Yorkshire, Conservative)
It is good to hear the Minister standing up for vested interests.
My amendment would change the procedure by which regulations would need to be dealt with under the Bill by removing the negative procedure and requiring that any regulations be subject to the positive procedure. If it were left to me, I would remove the negative procedure from the statute book completely. Silence should never be deemed to be consent, and when we make law Parliament should always have a say and be asked to give its approval.
I suspect that the Minister will resist my amendment by telling the Committee that any regulations made under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 are subject to the negative procedure, and that if the amendment were allowed, it would create an anomaly to the extent that regulations made under the Bill would be subject to a different procedure. I can see that there is some force in that argument, but I nevertheless hope that the Minister agrees that whenever the law is changed, Parliament should be asked for its consent.
I also have two concerns that I want to place on record and invite the Minister to comment on. One is about the regulations, and the other is of a more general nature. Dealing with the overall position, I hope that the Minister will confirm that no discussions with our European partners have taken place, are taking place or are about to take place about harmonising licence plate numbers. Will he confirm that no such discussions have taken place or are on the horizon? He has already referred to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency making a considerable amount of money by selling cherished numbers, but in my view if, at the same time, the Government were looking at changing our procedure in some way and making our existing numbers obsolete, that would be tantamount to obtaining by deception, if discussions were taking place at the same time as the Government were making money by selling existing registration numbers. I hope that the Minister will confirm that there is no EU agenda here.
My second concern relates directly to the regulations made under the Bill. If the Bill becomes law, which I hope, there will have to be a change in some of the procedures at the DVLA. In the past, in a pre-computer age, I suppose that that would not have caused a problem, but these days in any office, or certainly Department, everything is part of a computer programme. If the Bill becomes law, I suspect that the DVLA will need to commission some new computer software at an inflated price. I would like the Minister to confirm that the Department will absorb any costs so incurred and not seek in the regulations to pass on the extra cost to those who wish to take part in a cherished transfer. I hope that he will assure me that the cherished transfer fee will not be increased as a result of the legislation.
My hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, South and the Department have produced some very helpful explanatory notes. I refer the Committee to paragraph 13, which states:
“There are not expected to be any additional costs”.
I assume that the Minister consented to the second sentence:
“Departmental systems development costs estimated at £95,000 to £100,000 will be met by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.”
I would like the Minister to confirm today in the Official Report that that is his pledge to the Committee should the Bill become law. If he can satisfy me on my two latter points, I will seek the Committee’s permission to withdraw the amendment.