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Road Safety Bill [HL]

I was listening to the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, and it was as if he was repeating the same questions that I was asking the civil servants earlier about the people who may eventually need access to a driving record. I hope that, by the end of my contribution, I shall also have answered the noble Earl, Lord Mar and Kellie. Amendments Nos. 24 and 25 would remove the power of the Secretary of State to prescribe, by regulations, other persons to have access to information held on a person’s driving record. Clause 7 introduces the concept of a driving record maintained by the Secretary of State   that would be the official record of a driver’s endorsement history. So, as the Bill wishes to describe it, there will be a new item called a ““driving record””. As we see it, at present, the police have access to our driving record, but the Bill establishes a new item called a ““driving record””, and I shall explain how that will come about. It would enable the introduction at Clause 9 of the new system of endorsement for all drivers, based on inspection of the driving record rather than the counterpart. At present, as noble Lords will know, your driving licence consists of a plastic card and the   document that I am now displaying, a driving counterpart. The Bill aims to remove the driving counterpart and, instead, there would be an electronic record that would be available to the police and others.