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Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Bill

My Lords, this is in danger of setting a record for being the shortest Second Reading debate in this House’s history. In Report and Third Reading in the other place, Mr Rennie concluded by saying: ""If the House gives its support this morning, I shall entrust the Bill to my old boss, Lord Tyler ... in another place. I am sure that Members there will see the merits of the Bill, but if they do not I am sure that they will succumb to Lord Tyler’s charm".—[Official Report, Commons, 26/6/09; col.1068.]." We have had the charm of the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, but we did not need it to support the Bill. The Government are very sympathetic to the purpose of the Bill, because it addresses an issue of genuine public concern, principally about the safety of young people who are learning to drive. It will amend the legislation that provides for the registration of driving instructors, as the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, described. If it becomes law, the registrar of approved driving instructors will in appropriate circumstances be able to suspend an instructor immediately where they present an unacceptable risk to the safety of members of the public—in particular, their pupils. As the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, has explained, the impetus for the Bill came from a constituent of Willie Rennie, the Member of Parliament for Dunfermline and West Fife. Lesley Anne Steele approached Mr Rennie because of the anxiety and anger she felt when she saw her driving instructor collecting another female pupil for a driving lesson the very next day after he had been convicted of sexually assaulting her. Together, Ms Steele and Mr Rennie approached the Driving Standards Agency—which, through the registrar, regulates approved driving instructors—to try to establish how this could happen. They discovered that it takes around 45 days for the registrar to remove an instructor’s name from the register of ADIs, and during that period the instructor can continue providing paid driving instruction. The tenacity of both Mr Rennie and his constituent, to which the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, has rightly paid tribute this morning, in seeking to address this legal loophole is evidenced by the Bill. We have an opportunity to ensure that others who put their trust in a driving instructor do not experience the anguish and pain felt by Lesley Anne Steele. I hope that we will seize that opportunity. The overwhelming majority of instructors, having satisfied the registrar that they are fit and proper persons when they are accepted on to the register of approved driving instructors, remain so throughout their career in that profession. We are concerned here with the very small percentage of instructors who fail to maintain the high standards of conduct expected of them by their fellow professionals, their customers and the general public. The Road Traffic Act 1988 provides the registrar with powers to remove instructors from the register where they cease to be fit and proper persons. The Act also provides for instructors to make representations to the registrar before he finally decides whether their name should be removed from the register, and gives them the opportunity to make an appeal to the transport tribunal should the registrar decide in favour of removal. It is entirely right that instructors should be able to make representations, particularly where removal from the register would prevent them following their chosen way of earning a living. However, it takes a minimum of 45 days for the registrar to complete the process of removing an instructor’s name from the register. During that period, the instructor can continue giving paid driving instruction. We need to ensure that, in the most serious cases, the public are protected during the removal process. The Government are concerned not only about instructors who have committed serious violent or other offences but about those whose standard of instruction is identified, by means of periodic quality assurance checks, as being so poor that it puts at risk the safety of their pupils and other road users. The Government therefore propose to support the introduction of a power whereby the registrar may temporarily suspend the registration of an instructor in these exceptional circumstances. However, there is quite rightly a concern that adequate safeguards are in place where persons are prevented from following their profession and thereby deprived of their livelihood. To that end, I should explain the measures that we are supporting. First, a registered instructor can be suspended only where the registrar advises him, in writing, that he is minded to remove his permission to give paid instruction permanently and is following the statutory procedure to do that. It is not a stand-alone measure. Secondly, the suspension will lapse after 75 days if the registrar has still not decided whether to remove the suspended instructor’s permission to give paid instruction. Thirdly, a statutory compensation scheme will provide for the reimbursement of income and non-income losses incurred by the suspended instructor where the latter is suspended but not subsequently removed from the register, or where the registrar’s decision to remove is overturned on appeal. The non-income losses to which the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, referred relate to the damage of a person’s reputation and the value of their business that is likely to follow from this sort of action. Many approved driving instructors are self-employed, so the non-monetary damage as a result of the loss of reputation could be very serious. The final point on that is that there will be an entitlement for the instructor to lodge an appeal with the first-tier tribunal in respect of whether compensation should be awarded or the amount granted. But let me restate that the arrangements that we put in place are intended to deal with a very small number of cases, probably no more than five each year; that is, five out of around 45,000 registered instructors. While the arrangements that I have described will address the risk posed by a few qualified instructors, a similar risk applies in respect of some partially qualified instructors, around 2,500 of whom are licensed per annum. These people have passed the theory and practical driving parts of the registered instructor qualifying examination and are permitted, under a licensing scheme, to give paid driving instruction while preparing for the final part, the practical instruction test. This group of apprentice instructors presents an even smaller risk than that posed by qualified instructors, as they are fewer in number. However, it would be absurd if the registrar was unable to suspend the licence of an apprentice instructor in circumstances similar to those resulting in the suspension of a qualified instructor. We propose, therefore, to support the introduction of a provision that would allow the registrar to suspend the licence or exemption from registration that permits a trainee instructor to give paid instruction. Suspension could be imposed only alongside action intended to lead to the revocation of the licence or exemption and could be used only where the trainee instructor posed a significant threat to safety of members of the public. As with registered instructors, the counterbalance to the trainee licence or exemption suspension power would be the compensation scheme. The scheme would cover the suspension of trainee licences or exemptions in much the same way as it covers the suspension of qualified driving instructors. On 26 June, speaking at the end of the Bill’s Third Reading in another place, my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Paul Clark, said: ""The Bill strikes the right balance between the need to protect the public and the rights of individuals to go about their business and earn a living".—[Official Report, Commons, 26/6/09; col. 1067.]" I agree. It offers protection to learner drivers in particular and the public more generally while safeguarding the interests of fit and proper driving instructors. The Bill deals with a real public concern in a reasonable and proportionate way. I wish the Bill well and I look forward to seeing it on the statute book.