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Road Safety Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support my noble friend Lord Hanningfield. I am grateful for the letter that we had from the Minister, and agree with many of the points he raises in it—particularly the load on youngsters at that time, the skill fade on a large first aid test and the need for examiners to be examiners in driving, not in first aid. My amendment, which I described in detail in Committee, was a very short practical test with a dummy. I suspect it would only last 60 seconds and one would really have to be incredibly thick to fail it. That would be good, because the candidate would feel good for having passed the test. It would only demonstrate an ability to procure an airway, immobilise the neck and detect and control bleeding, and nothing else. It would therefore be a very short test. One would have to be some sort of moron not to pass it. If the Minister cannot accept our amendments—which I suspect he cannot—will he at least ensure that there will always be at least one first aid test in the theory test? That way, if a candidate does not study any first aid, he will fail one of the questions.