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Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2008

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2008. The noble Lord said: The provision of an accessible public transport system in which people with reduced mobility can have the same opportunities to travel as other members of society is a key driver in improving their life chances and promoting social inclusion. Without accessible transport, people with reduced mobility are limited in their ability to access work, visit friends and family, participate in leisure activities or access healthcare and education facilities. That is why we have taken strong and positive action to ensure that public transport services are more accessible to the growing number of people who have previously faced difficulties when trying to use them. Regulations requiring all new rail vehicles, buses and coaches to be accessible have already been introduced. There are around 4,700 accessible rail vehicles already in service which are covered by the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations, widely referred to as the RVAR. We should remember that many thousands of older rail vehicles have also been made more accessible by refurbishment. The United Kingdom's leadership in this area has now been recognised at a European level and the European Commission has come forward with a new standard for the accessibility of trains. This is based largely on the RVAR. The introduction of the new standards is the reason why we are here today. The regulations before us are needed to prevent the application of dual regulatory regimes, European and domestic, in this area as the European standards will come into force automatically, through the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2006, while the domestic standards apply through the RVAR. It would not be desirable for a train to be subject to two different accessibility regimes. Therefore, since the new European standards will take precedence, the draft regulations before us contain provisions to disapply the RVAR from those trains to which the new standards will apply. The new European standard will apply to trains operated for passenger services on the UK mainline railway network, while the RVAR itself will remain as the accessibility standard for light rail, tram, metro and underground systems. The Merits Committee has drawn the regulations to the special attention of the Committee because the exemptions under the new European regime that we are moving today are dealt with administratively—as they already are for other aspects of that regime, such as signalling and radio communications—rather than by statutory instrument. However, we are confident that consultation with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee and others will ensure that the needs of people with reduced mobility are not taken lightly. No adverse comments were received on this issue during the consultation process. We must also understand that we are talking only about limited exemptions for the oldest vehicles, which were built before any access standards were in place at all. There are no grounds for new trains to be introduced into service without being fully accessible. Simply disapplying the RVAR would leave the trains that were previously subject to it completely unregulated until they triggered the European standards by being refurbished. As that is clearly unacceptable, the draft regulations also ensure that there is an obligation on train operating companies to continue to operate these trains in an accessible manner, as if they were still subject to the RVAR standards, unless and until they trigger the new standards. In addition to facilitating the introduction of the new European standards, the draft regulations also deliver on our commitment to set an end date of 1 January 2020 by which time all trains must be accessible. This measure was originally included in the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and enjoyed full cross-party support during its passage through the House of Lords. Members of the House of Lords have consistently demonstrated both their interest in, and the strength of their support for, measures that improve the accessibility of our railways. That is the main reason why we are seeking approval for these regulations today. They will help secure significant improvements for all passengers, not just people with reduced mobility, and the rail industry has already been working to similar standards for approaching a decade. For those reasons I commend these draft regulations to the Committee. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2008. 21st report from the Merits Committee, 21st report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(Lord Bassam of Brighton.)