Appendix D
E-mail from the Department for Transport to the
Committee Specialist
Proposal for the Regulatory Reform (Public Service
Vehicles) Order 2006: further information
I need to make another correction to my letter of
9th January concerning this proposed Order.
In paragraph 1 of your letter of 14 December last
year, you raised a query in relation to the addition of a new
paragraph (viiid) to s10(1) of the Transport Act 1968, which gave
PTEs the power to lease buses to operators for the provision of
services under bus subsidy contracts.
You mentioned that paragraph (viii) of this section
also purports to allow PTEs to lease buses generally, but since
this power has been revoked in respect of all PTEs under orders
made under s60(5) of the Transport Act 1985, it would be appropriate
to revoke paragraph (viii) as an incidental or consequential provision
in the Order.
We would like to correct the third paragraph of our
response to this query. We stated that:
"...it would still be possible to use the
power in section 60(7)[of the Transport Act 1985] to repeal all
these spent provisions by Statutory Instrument. Since the purpose
of doing so would be to tidy the statute book rather than to lift
burdens, that would be the more appropriate mechanism to use."
Peter Milledge, counsel to the HL Delegated Powers
and Regulatory Reform Committee has since pointed out that section
60(7) can no longer be used for this purpose, since it is exercisable
only:
"...on the date on which, by virtue of the
cumulative effect of orders made under this section, there ceases
to be any [PTE] in Great Britain who... have the powers under
section 10(1)(i) and (viii)."
Since this date has long since passed, in respect
of both paragraphs, the power in section 60(7) no longer exists.
We should be grateful therefore if you would alert
the Regulatory Reform Committee to this fact on our behalf.
24 January 2006
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