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Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Bill

My Lords, I, too, am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, for introducing his Bill and for the careful way in which he explained its purpose and background. Although I shall not repeat his points, I agree with them all. I have an interest to declare as an out-of-date qualified Army driving instructor. I have taught both civilian and military personnel to drive both cars and heavy goods vehicles. I know from my experience that a driving instructor temporarily has considerable power over a pupil. Pupils need to be confident that their instructor is a competent and fit person. The noble Lord, Lord Tyler, explained the welcome compensation provisions in Clause 2, which inserts new Section 128ZB into RTA 1988. As an aside, and following from what the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, said, perhaps that Act would benefit from consolidation, as it has been amended several times. However, new subsection (1) covers "income losses" and "non-income losses". Subsection (9) defined income losses as "losses of income", and non-income losses as "losses other than income". I am not quite sure what other interpretation could be attached to those terms. Nevertheless, the compensation scheme will protect the instructor from the financial consequences of a malicious allegation. At the same time, it will remove from the registrar the need to be overly concerned about the hardship of a temporarily suspended instructor. The provisions of the Bill may need only rarely to be invoked. Perhaps that is why they were overlooked in the RSA, but they are worthwhile and we on these Benches welcome them.