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Civil Aviation Bill

I thank the noble Baroness for putting her case so purposefully. I understand that she does not want me to go through a whole list of ways in which the Secretary of State, through the democratic process of scrutiny both in this House and in another place can and does report through Questions, the Scrutiny Committee and so on all issues of aviation safety, including the issue before us: the transition from the duties of the CAA to the duties of EASA. Amendments Nos. 38 and 41 would place a new duty on the Secretary of State in relation to aviation safety. The noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, in whose name the amendment is tabled, have understandably seized this opportunity to raise concerns about aviation safety in the light of the transition underway between the CAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency. They seek assurances that the transfer is progressing smoothly. The Secretary of State has a very clear duty laid down in Section 1 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 to promote aviation safety. The establishment of the European Aviation Safety Agency does not detract from that duty. That duty also encompasses being assured about the safety of foreign aircraft using UK airports. The noble Baroness will know that there are many well established parliamentary processes by which noble Lords can ask the Secretary of State how he is performing that duty—parliamentary Questions, debates in the House and the EU Select Committee. Noble Lords will also note that the European Commission published a proposal on 24 November to amend the Council regulation that established EASA, which will give further opportunities for parliamentary scrutiny and debate. The noble Baroness asked me whether there were plans to extend the duties of EASA. This regulation is part of that extension. Of course it will come before us in the normal way. The noble Baroness asked about the scrutiny of EASA. Noble Lords will know that authorities still carry out tasks for the agency under contract. So the Civil Aviation Authority, under contracts agreed between it and the new European agency, is carrying out tasks during this transition period for the new agency. The agency is recruiting from civil aviation authorities as it builds up its own staff. The agency plans to have sufficient staff of its own to carry out all the tasks for which it is responsible within three years or so. The Government are well aware that this has significant manpower implications for the CAA and other European authorities. I would be wrong to stand here and say to the noble Baroness that this transition period has been without any teething problems. Those teething problems, as she will know, are around this issue of contracts and that of charging. The noble Baroness has referred to some of the issues facing the agency and the authorities—how tasks have been transferred, the manpower that will be needed in both the agency and the CAA, and the working of the agencies new fees and charges system. I can assure noble Lords that we are working closely with the CAA and the agency to ensure that solutions are developed and put into place as quickly as possible. I conclude by saying that in our presidency capacity of the EU, which closes at the end of this month, we have worked to reach a deal with the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission on a new measure which will allow concerted action to be taken on identifying airlines that do not meet acceptable international safety standards and ensure that action is taken to ban them throughout the Community, and that information about that action is published. Legislation was adopted by the Parliament in November and by the Council on 5 December. There was discussion about whether the new agency should have a role in this new regulation that was adopted on 5 December. It was decided that that would be premature because the new agency is going through a transitional period of consolidating its structures and procedures and of recruiting the staff necessary to carry out its responsibilities. On that basis, I hope that the noble Baroness will withdraw her amendment.