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National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Transport) Order 2010

My Lords, the order was approved by the National Assembly on 2 March and in Committee in the other place this morning. The LCO was announced by the then First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, last July as part of the Welsh Assembly Government’s third legislative programme. It does two things. First, it devolves legislative competence to the Assembly on concessionary travel. Secondly, it broadens the Assembly’s existing competence in relation to learner transport. The concessionary travel scheme in Wales provides free travel on local bus services for the disabled, their companions and those aged over 60. A rail pilot scheme is also in operation on certain rail lines. The LCO inserts a matter into field 10—the highways and transport field—of Schedule 5 to the Government of Wales Act 2006, to allow the Assembly to legislate about concessionary travel on bus services in Wales and rail services provided under a franchise agreement to which the Welsh Ministers are a party. Those are currently services operated in Wales under the Arriva Trains Wales franchise. Under current arrangements, Welsh local authorities negotiate directly with bus operators the amount of reimbursement due as a result of the scheme. The amounts are then paid by the Welsh Assembly Government, who believe that that arrangement does not build in sufficient incentives to control costs. Competence, which this order provides, would allow the Assembly to legislate to exercise more rigorous control over the scheme, thereby safeguarding its longer-term viability. It could, for example, allow the Assembly Government to administer the scheme directly; enable the Welsh Ministers to negotiate reimbursement directly with operators; or allow the amending of all or part of the legislative framework for the scheme as a whole, including the process for appeals. Perhaps it would help if I clarified what was meant by "learner" transport. We mean students, chiefly those in school but the concept relates to further education as well, so we are talking about support for those in education. The LCO would allow the Assembly to legislate in relation to the kinds of vehicles used by local authorities to provide learner transport and the safety and security features they should have. For example, local authorities could be required to use only vehicles that had certain characteristics, such as being single-deck vehicles fitted with seatbelts and closed circuit television. There is cross-party support for this proposal in the Assembly following consultation on, and scrutiny of, the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008. The proposal supports Welsh Ministers’ policy objective to reduce car use to and from school by improving the security, comfort, convenience and safety of school buses, and hence their attractiveness to learners. The Assembly already has competence over most aspects of learner travel, subject to a number of general or floating exceptions in Part 2 of Schedule 5. These include an exception relating to the regulation of the use and construction of motor vehicles on roads and the conditions under which they may be used, and an exception for transport security. Both those exceptions constrain the Assembly’s ability to legislate in respect of the equipment in vehicles used for learner transport and the security of those travelling in such vehicles. The LCO removes some of the restrictions, but only in relation to vehicles used specifically for learner transport. In other words, some of the restrictions placed on the Assembly’s existing competence are eased by redefining the boundaries of the exception. It is important to be clear, however, that the LCO does not devolve competence in relation to the technical standards of vehicles. Those apply throughout Great Britain and will continue to be determined by the UK Government, often within the framework of European law. Pre-legislative scrutiny of the LCO was carried out by the Constitution Committee of this House, the Welsh Affairs Committee in the other place and a committee of the Assembly. The Constitution Committee concluded that the LCO did not raise any issues of constitutional principle. As this is the last LCO from the Assembly Government’s current legislative programme to be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny, on behalf of the Government I thank the committee for the scrutiny that it has carried out in relation to this and the other LCOs considered recently. The committee has played an invaluable role in the process of devolving legislative competence to the Assembly. The Welsh Affairs Committee recommended that the Explanatory Memorandum be amended to specify how the use of the term "bus services" in the LCO related to its use in other transport legislation. Paragraph 7.10 of the memorandum has been amended to make it clear that the term is compatible with that used in the Transport Act 2000. It potentially encompasses all bus services in Wales and is widely drafted to enable the Assembly to differentiate between services, or to specify in legislation particular services such as community transport or long-distance coach services. I hope that the House will agree that it is appropriate that these powers in respect of concessionary travel and learner transport are devolved to the National Assembly to allow the Assembly Government to implement their policies.