Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) (Amendment) Order 2010

As is generally the case when the two noble Lords question me on transport issues, they have asked a series of detailed questions that I shall do my best to answer. We have answers for most of them but if I miss anything, I shall of course write to noble Lords with the complete answer. I shall start with a sort of concluding comment that the order makes the necessary changes to Article 5 of the Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) Order 1975 to update references to Community legislation in respect of two of the regulations that form the road transport package. Article 5 of the 1975 order exempts from vehicle excise duty certain categories of vehicles engaged in international operations, including cabotage, brought temporarily into the UK that are regulated by EC rules. The new rules on cabotage are much clearer than the existing ones and will be more enforceable with enhanced road safety as a result. They will also help to reduce the number of "empty runs" as hauliers will be able to undertake work on their return trip to their home country. Neither noble Lord referred to the regulation of international bus tours, so I assume that they are content with that. I assure both of them that these rules will be changed without compromising road safety. The noble Baroness asked about the cost of implementing the road transport package. The impact assessment that accompanied the order is for all regulations which form the EU road transport package as they were published by the Commission in May 2007. The estimated cost of full implementation, £15 million, was based on European proposals at that time, if we had to implement them without any changes arising from EU negotiations. However, because the UK was successful in resisting a number of the proposals in the EU negotiations—we managed to negotiate the exclusion of the voluntary sector from tour operator licensing requirements—there is a net benefit of around £40 million, closer to the figure given in the partial implementation option in the impact assessment. However, I must stress that this is an estimate for the benefits arising from the full implementation of all three regulations which make up the road transport package, which goes beyond the scope of the measures in this order. The effect of the changes brought about by this order is cost-neutral as it simply updates references to EU legislation to exempt non-domestic road haulage and passenger service vehicles from vehicle excise duty. Both noble Lords referred to safety and to the fact that foreign vehicles have a higher failure level than UK vehicles under road worthiness checks. It is reasonable to ask whether the change to the cabotage rules will result in more defective vehicles and, indeed, more tired drivers on our roads. The answer is no. The new rules are arguably more stringent than the current ones and are easier to enforce. They should mean fewer defective vehicles and tired drivers undertaking cabotage on our roads. The new rules mean that a non-resident haulier can do three domestic deliveries in seven days only if he has brought goods into the country. At the moment, hauliers from other member states can come in with an empty lorry and undertake cabotage work for up to 30 days. Cabotage operations that are permanent or continuous—in other words, on a contractual basis—are prohibited. This will ensure that cabotage cannot be used to provide an alternative to setting up a road haulage business here and circumventing the UK’s stringent operator licensing regime. The new rules are easier to enforce as the burden of proof now falls on the haulier rather than on the enforcement authority, so it should be easier to take action against hauliers who break the rules. The noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, has asked me about enforcement on a number of occasions. VOSA has already significantly increased enforcement activity against non-resident hauliers. In 2006-07, there were 27,017 roadside checks for traffic offences; in 2008-09, this had increased to 46,335. VOSA also has an extra £24 million over the next three years to target unsafe and overloaded heavy goods vehicles on international journeys. This will fund 75,000 heavy goods vehicle checks per year and the employment of 97 additional enforcement staff; 24/7 enforcement checking, which is already in place on the M6, M25 and in north Wales, will be extended to other sites over the next three years. The noble Lords asked whether we would bring up European Union countries to our standard as a result of these changes. This is not relevant to this order because we are discussing Regulation 1071/2009 on access to the occupation which forms part of the road transport package and is referred to in the impact assessment. However, measures in that regulation should help to improve safety standards across the EU. For example, all member states will have to keep standard records on the safety and performance of their operators, such as those that are maintained in the UK. All member states have to establish a national electronic register of operators, which will be interconnected by 1 January 2013. This will improve enforcement and co-operation between all EU licensing and enforcement authorities. Our own enforcement agency, VOSA, will from 2013 have direct access to information about foreign operators and how often they have committed offences. This will let us target checks on the highest-risk hauliers and make our roads safer. The noble Baroness asked about mirrors. Indeed, we had a small debate on mirrors when we discussed cycling safety in the Chamber last week. The Fresnel lenses—the mirrors that are intended to ensure that the driver sees a cyclist who is coming up on his inside, or on his offside if he is a foreign driver—should be fitted to all foreign vehicles as they arrive at United Kingdom ports. The answer to the noble Baroness’s question is therefore definitely yes. The noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, asked about charging for using our roads. The Government have no current plans to introduce either a time-based user charge scheme or a toll scheme for foreign lorries as fees that can be charged are capped under the legislation and the costs would far outweigh the benefits of the scheme. I am quite certain that the noble Lord will return to this issue and that we will have another opportunity to debate it again in the future. The noble Baroness kindly referred to the support for the order from organisations in the industry such as the Road Haulage Association, the Freight Transport Association and the Confederation of Passenger Transport. It is very widely supported, and the fact that the industry participated so widely in the consultation means that it feels real ownership of it. I therefore very much hope that the Committee will support it this afternoon.