Part of Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:30 am on 21 March 2017.
Richard Burden
Shadow Minister (Transport)
10:30,
21 March 2017
The basis of this part of the Bill and the Clause that the Amendment relates to is uncontentious. At the moment, if the Civil Aviation Authority wishes to review NATS’s licence and there is an objection by NATS, there is a potentially long and complicated process with reference to the Competition and Markets Authority to try to unscramble it. The basis of the clause is right in saying that the Civil Aviation Authority should have much clearer powers to suggest a modification, and NATS should have the right to appeal. It is a simple change and it makes sense. NATS agrees with it and the CAA thinks it is a sensible change. There is not a big difference between the parties in Committee on that.
The issue is that nobody yet knows how many modifications are coming down the line. The Minister said they have been relatively few up until now. There may be relatively few going forward, but the single European sky and other changes ahead of us mean that we simply do not know how many modifications will be necessary. We also do not know what the experience and impact of the appeals process by NATS, and in some circumstances other bodies will be—that prefigures the discussion we will have on the next group of amendments. That is why the impact assessment was clear in saying that there is no clarity, and that we simply do not know how this will work.
The changes appear to be sensible procedurally, but we do not know what the experience of the appeals situation will be. That is why the impact assessment says there should be a light-touch review after five years and a full-scale review after 10. We tabled the amendment to try to get that in the Bill, although the Minister has satisfied me that he is not opposed to a review. There will need to be some discussion about whether the five-year review should be specifically on the appeals or whether it should be broader, and about the difference between a light-touch and a full-scale review. We have put down a marker that something needs to be clear by the time the Bill leaves Parliament and becomes an Act. If there is to be a review, everybody should be clear about what kind of review it will be and who will be responsible for doing it. That is why we tabled the amendment. However, on the basis of the Minister’s assurances, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
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