My Lords, I thank the Minister for her opening statement. The Ethiopian Airlines crash has been a salutary reminder of the fundamental importance of aviation safety. Sometimes we take it for granted, but it relies on a complex interlocking of the highest standards for design, manufacture and maintenance, stringent standards for the training of flight crew and air traffic controllers, and exacting standards for the design and operation of airports. As aircraft have become more complex—the crash two days ago illustrates this point extremely well—and the skies become more crowded, the importance of international co-operation on the specification and maintenance of these standards has never been greater.
Yet this SI is intended to withdraw us from EASA and hence from access, as of right, to much of that international co-operation. I was very pleased that the Minister confirmed yesterday that the Government want to remain a member of EASA. I have no doubt that the Minister wishes to do so, but it was good to have the reassurance that that was the Government’s position. However, in the present political chaos, we cannot rely on this SI being simply a paper exercise.
Last November, the Second Legislation Scrutiny Committee drew our attention to this SI. It drew attention to the impact on CAA resources and to whether the EU will reciprocate in the recognition of licences, certificates and approvals. The UK will continue to have the same technical requirements and standards on exit day but, as the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, has just said, there are real questions over future changes and over whether and how we will keep in step with the EU. Next week, we will be looking at maritime SIs, and we are way behind in keeping up with the flow of maritime legislation. I have real concerns that in the aviation sector, where technology moves on really fast, we will not be on the ball in changing our standards as fast as the EU.
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EASA has set the highest standards, and we have been a very important member of it. Given the importance of our contribution, it is sad that we are considering this situation today. The CAA has a well-deserved reputation for efficiency and expertise. However, in future it will have to operate within the framework set by the Secretary of State, and not that set by the European Commission. The difference is this: as I pointed out last week, when we were discussing railways, there is an issue about the transparency of the process and the availability of the information for public scrutiny. I was concerned to read in Paragraph 7.4 of the Explanatory Memorandum that:
“Delegated powers in the Basic Regulation are transferred … to the Secretary of State, who will be able to make regulations to adopt new technical requirements or to amend the technical requirements”.
There is no procedure laid down here for consultation and no formal role for the CAA as advisers; and, worse, it is by negative procedure. I have very serious concerns about this, because there may be no public discussion and no public rationale provided by the Secretary of State as to why standards are changing.
I am concerned, too, about the implications of paragraph 7.3(b) in the Explanatory Memorandum, on the recognition of certificates. In future, individuals will need UK certificates if they are to fly or maintain UK-registered aircraft. This again has important resource implications, and I would be pleased if the Minister could give us details of the resource impact on the CAA in providing those certificates.
Paragraph 12.2 of the Explanatory Memorandum refers to additional staff for the CAA. It would be good to know how many additional staff will be needed and what their cost will be. If the Minister has not got that information today, could she write to us?
Paragraph 7.5 says that the UK safety list of banned operators will no longer be laid down in legislation but merely published on the CAA website. There have been serious incidents involving operators and banning, but I am concerned about this change of approach. Why will it not be laid down in legislation in future? Why is it just a notification on a website? Would there be a legal implication if there were to be infringements of a ban, for instance? Again, simply having this on a website lacks transparency and public accountability.
Moving on to the thorny issue of consultation, we have the same formula of words that we have had before—that there has been “regular engagement” with the industry and “long-established stakeholder forums”, and so on. This is absolutely not the same as consultation. It is much less transparent, and we are all aware that there have been issues with the ability of those who have been consulted in these forums—specifically, the limits that have been put on them in terms of what they could say publicly about their views on that consultation, the Government having limited their rights to do this. That is the opposite of a public consultation. If a public consultation had taken place, we would have a report on how many people were opposed to something, how many people supported it and so on, and if that report was not made public, we would have the right to ask for that information. There is no public trail of accountability here.
Moving on to the impact, individuals will need new CAA licences after two years. The committee’s report specified that the CAA will need 59 additional staff, 38 of whom were in post in November. Are they all in post now? What will the annual cost of this system be? Pilot licences issued by the EU must be validated by the CAA before being used outside the UK on a UK-registered aircraft. I note that there will be no charge for this, but last November the Department for Transport was unable to tell the committee how many people would be affected by the requirement for these new licences. Does the Minister now have that information?
As CAA licences will not be recognised in the EU, pilots will need to transfer their licence to another EU state if they wish to operate aircraft registered under
the IATA system. Any cost to them will depend on which member state is involved.
I understand the reason for this statutory instrument, and I greatly regret the reason for it, but the system that is being put in place is less transparent, the standards will be less guaranteed and there are significant impacts on individuals working in the aviation industry. I am concerned that there has not been sufficient publicity about this aspect.