Clause 5
Local Transport Bill [Lords]
4:45 pm
Rosie Winterton (Minister of State, Department for Transport; Doncaster Central, Labour)
What we are talking in clause 5 are the transitional provisions to go to the new system. The one that particularly comes to mind would be the fact that the senior traffic commissioner would remain in post for 12 months, until a decision is made about who a new traffic commissioner would be and how long that term of contract would be.
With regard to any redundancies that may arise, I would be almost certain that there would be a continuous period of employment. I do not think we would be saying that this is an entirely new position. The employment conditions will remain the same but it is about the exercise of their powers which they will be able to exercise throughout England and Wales, as opposed to just in their particular area as it is at the moment.
As I have indicated before, we expect that most will continue to work in their existing areas but the senior traffic commissioner will have the power to deploy elsewhere. In those circumstances we do not believe that it will look radically different and I would venture to suggest that we do not envisage that the existing traffic commissioners are suddenly going to become hopelessly incompetent. It is more likely that in the future there may be a desire, because of the pooled approach, to recruit other people with particular specialisms—but that is for the future. What we are doing in the Bill is allowing greater flexibility for the traffic commissioners’ work, without in any way trying to undermine the job that they do at the moment.