Official Report 444KB pdf
Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2015 [Draft]
Good morning. I welcome everyone to the fifth meeting in 2015 of the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee. Everyone present is reminded to switch off mobile phones, because they affect the broadcasting system. Meeting papers are provided in digital format, so you may see tablets being used during the meeting.
The first agenda item is evidence on the draft Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2015 from the Minister for Transport and Islands, Derek Mackay. Brendan Rooney, who is a road safety policy officer in Transport Scotland, is also attending.
The order has been laid under the affirmative procedure, which means that the Parliament must approve it before the provisions may come into force. Following the evidence session, the committee will be invited, under agenda item 2, to consider a motion to approve the order.
I welcome the witnesses and invite the minister to make opening remarks.
Thank you, convener, and good morning, committee. I thank you for the opportunity to set out the Government’s reasoning behind the measures that the committee is considering.
The order was made under section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998 in order to devolve to the Scottish Parliament legislative competence in respect of provision of seat belts on school buses. The safety of Scotland’s children and young people is a responsibility that we all share. As the Minister for Transport and Islands, it is my resolute belief that the journey to and from school is a key consideration in those efforts. Parents who wave their children off to school in the mornings expect all of us with responsibilities in the area to do everything that we can to ensure that they are cared for and kept safe. That is why, in March last year my predecessor, Keith Brown, announced that the Scottish Government intended to introduce legislation to ensure that seat belts would be provided in all dedicated school transport in Scotland.
I am glad that local government shares our endeavours on that important safety measure. Seventeen councils in Scotland already stipulate seat belts as a condition in dedicated school transport contracts, and a further six do so in some provision, for example, in vehicles that carry primary children. About 85 per cent of dedicated school buses in Scotland currently have seat belts fitted, but we are clear that all children on dedicated home-to-school transport should benefit from that important safeguard, so we intend to introduce legislation on that in the next session of Parliament.
We have reached agreement with the United Kingdom Government on the terms of the order, and I am pleased that the process has reached the stage at which the order is before the ICI Committee following its passage through the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee last week.
Although formal consultation and such associated legislative considerations are still some way in the future, we have taken the early opportunity to work closely with local authority partners and other key stakeholders. Transport Scotland has set up the seat belts on school transport working group to help to prepare for a smooth transition and to look at best practice for ensuring that children wear seat belts when they are provided.
The aim is that the order be approved at both Holyrood and Westminster before the UK general election, and for it to be made at the first available Privy Council meeting in the summer.
Those are the steps that the Government is taking to ensure that we are well placed to take forward our plans. I invite questions from committee members about the section 30 order.
Thank you for that opening statement, minister. I invite members to ask questions on the order.
I just want to put on the record that we should thank the petitioner who has done work on road safety for many years and the Public Petitions Committee for its work on the issue. Perhaps the minister would agree with that. I should declare an interest as a former convener of the Public Petitions Committee. What has happened provides a good example of how ordinary petitioners can go ahead in raising issues of concern and get action. As members know, the Public Petitions Committee was heavily involved with the UK Government, as well.
I am very pleased that the section 30 order has been drafted; safety to and from school is vital. The initiative is great, and I strongly support it.
Although I have no issues with the order, will the minister give us an indicative timescale for completion of the process to put in place the regulations?
First, David Stewart’s comment on the success of this Parliament is a fair one. Petitioners—citizens of Scotland—can, in the very heart of our democracy, raise matters of importance to them. We can progress those issues where we have the power to do so. In this instance we did not have the power. but we sought it in order to deliver on aspirations.
The section 30 order is very specific, so we will be able to set only the rule around use of seatbelts, but not their specification—there is a particular request for three-point seatbelts. It would therefore be better if we had greater power, so that we could be more prescriptive. However, perhaps we can achieve that through guidance rather than necessarily having to do so through legislation.
As transport minister, I also want to take other action including improved signage on school buses, which another petitioner of Parliament has raised. That is another example of where this Parliament and I, as the responsible minister, do not have the power to make a decision. However, I will continue to pursue the matter with the UK Government.
In addition to the Smith commission proposals for further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament, the general election and the command paper “Scotland in the United Kingdom: An enduring settlement”, we will want to pursue, on a cross-party basis, further powers to make our young people even safer.
That was a consensual point made to take forward agreement on the principle of empowerment.
On Alex Johnstone’s question about the timescale, when the power becomes available, the earliest that we could introduce legislation would be in the first year of the next session of Parliament, because of the time it will take for the order to go through, including the Privy Council’s approval. It would be a matter for the next session of Scottish Parliament.
This Scottish Government has committed to introducing legislation very quickly. In order to achieve the timescale of implementation by 2018 for vehicles that transport primary school children, and by 2021 for vehicles carrying secondary school pupils, we have to introduce legislation in good time.
Members may put the point that it is presumptuous to say that that this Scottish Government will be the next Scottish Government, but because of the level of cross-party support the policy seems to have, surely any party will want to continue with the legislation, if it has the power to do so.
I hope that that gives further clarity on timescales.
We move to agenda item 2. I invite the minister to move motion S4M-12372.
Motion moved,
That the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee recommends that The Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2015 [draft] be approved.—[Derek Mackay].
Motion agreed to.
That concludes consideration of the instrument. We will report the outcome to Parliament.
I thank the minister for his evidence and his official for his attendance this morning.
I allow a short suspension for a changeover of witnesses.
10:08 Meeting suspended.Previous
AttendanceNext
Freight Transport