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Baroness Chalker of Wallasey: My Lords, I am a good deal more aware than the noble Lord gives me credit for. I am also very much aware that the team in the Foreign Office and those representing the UK in Brussels
are extremely alive to all the discussions that are going on. The noble Lord should not think that just because the French and the Germans happen to chat and organise before certain meetings other nations within the European Union do not also do so. They are not the only ones who try to organise to ensure that their point of view prevails.Motoring Offences: Police Cameras
2.58 p.m.
Lord Campbell of Croy asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether evidence recorded by static police cameras can be used to bring charges against motorists using telephone handsets while driving on public roads.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (Viscount Goschen): My Lords, photographic evidence from police cameras could be used for bringing charges against motorists using telephone handsets, provided the proper evidential procedures were followed. As there is no specific offence of using a telephone while driving on public roads, the evidence would be used in charges of failure to have proper control of the vehicle or careless and inconsiderate driving.
Lord Campbell of Croy: My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that very clear Answer. As the cameras apparently provide accurate evidence of speeding, can they also be used to discourage any other offences where proof can be reliably recorded? If that is already happening, have the organisations representing the motoring public been consulted?
Viscount Goschen: My Lords, I believe the type of police camera to which my noble friend refers is the one dedicated to catching speeding offenders, namely the Gatso=type camera. That is type-approved and used specifically for that very purpose. There are a number of other types of camera, including closed circuit TV cameras and cameras within marked and unmarked police cars. Evidence from the marked and unmarked cars is already used for the prosecution of other offences, although that must be a decision for the police themselves.
Baroness Young: My Lords, will my noble friend, when considering this matter and the evidence from the police, bear in mind that there are many women who find having a car telephone a great security, particularly if they are required to drive in the evening or after dark?
Viscount Goschen: My Lords, my noble friend makes a very important point about the uses of mobile telephones and the security which they give to many people, particularly women, who drive alone in their cars. However, the priority must be to drive the car safely, and it would be for the police to use their discretion as to whether to take action if they felt a car was not being properly driven.
Education (Special Educational Needs) Bill [H.L.]
3 p.m.
Lord Campbell of Alloway: My Lords, I beg to introduce a Bill to confer new rights on children with special educational needs and to make supplementary provision in relation to appeals to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal and from that tribunal to the High Court. I beg to move that the Bill be now read a first time.
Moved, That the Bill be now read a first time.--(Lord Campbell of Alloway.)
On Question, Bill read a first time, and to be printed.
Science and Technology: Select Committee
The Chairman of Committees (Lord Boston of Faversham): My Lords, I beg to move the first Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
Moved, That a Select Committee be appointed to consider science and technology and that, as proposed by the Committee of Selection, the following Lords be named of the Select Committee:
L. Craig of Radley,
L. Dainton,
L. Dixon-Smith,
L. Flowers,
L. Gregson,
L. Haskel,
B. Hogg,
L. Kirkwood,
L. Phillips of Ellesmere,
L. Porter of Luddenham,
L. Redesdale,
E. Selborne (Chairman),
L. Soulsby of Swaffham Prior,
L. Tombs,
L. Winston;
That the committee have power to appoint sub-committees and that the committee have power to appoint the chairmen of sub-committees;
That the committee have power to co-opt any Lord for the purposes of serving on the committee or any sub-committee;
That the committee have leave to report from time to time;
That the committee and any sub-committee have power to adjourn from place to place;
That the committee and any sub-committee have power to appoint specialist advisers;
That the minutes of evidence taken before the committee or any sub-committee from time to time shall, if the committee thinks fit, be printed and delivered out;
That the minutes of evidence taken before the Science and Technology Committee or any sub-committee in the last Session of Parliament be referred to the committee; and
- That the committee do meet on Wednesday 13th November at three o'clock.--(The Chairman of Committees.)
European Communities: Select Committee
The Chairman of Committees: My Lords, I beg to move the second Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
Moved, That a Select Committee be appointed to consider Community proposals, whether in draft or otherwise, to obtain all necessary information about them, and to make reports on those which, in the opinion of the committee, raise important questions of policy or principle, and on other questions to which the committee considers that the special attention of the House should be drawn;
That, as proposed by the Committee of Selection, the Lords following be named of the Committee:
L. Barnett,
L. Bridges,
L. Dahrendorf,
L. Dubs,
L. Geddes,
L. Gisborough,
L. Haslam,
B. Hilton of Eggardon,
L. Hoffmann,
L. Kingsland,
L. McConnell,
L. Marsh,
L. Middleton,
L. Reay,
L. Stoddart of Swindon,
L. Tordoff (Chairman),
L. Walpole,
B. Williams of Crosby,
L. Willoughby de Broke;
That the committee have power to appoint sub-committees and to refer to such sub-committees any of the matters within the terms of reference of the committee; that the committee have power to appoint the chairmen of sub-committees, but that such sub-committees have power to appoint their own chairman for the purpose of particular inquiries; that two be the quorum of such sub-committees;
That the committee have power to co-opt any Lord for the purpose of serving on a sub-committee;
That the committee have leave to report from time to time;
That the committee and any sub-committee have power to adjourn from place to place;
That the committee have power to appoint specialist advisers;
That the reports of the select committee from time to time shall be printed, notwithstanding any adjournment of the House;
That the minutes of evidence taken before the committee or any sub-committee from time to time shall, if the committee thinks fit, be printed and delivered out;
That the minutes of evidence taken before the European Communities Committee or any sub-committee in the last Session of Parliament be referred to the committee; and
That the committee do meet on Tuesday 29th October at a quarter-past four o'clock.--(The Chairman of Committees.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
Public Service: Select Committee
The Chairman of Committees: My Lords, I beg to move the third Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
Moved, That a Select Committee be appointed to consider the present condition and future development of the public service in Great Britain with particular regard to the effectiveness of recent and continuing changes and their impact on standards of conduct and service in the public interest;
That, for the purposes of the Select Committee, the public service shall be deemed to exclude local government, the National Health Service, schools and institutions of higher and further education, but to include all government departments, executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies and other organisations created by or working for the public service;
That, as proposed by the Committee of Selection, the following Lords be named of the Select Committee on the Public Service:
L. Brabazon of Tara,
L. Croham,
L. Cuckney,
L. Gillmore of Thamesfield,
L. Harris of Greenwich,
L. Lane of Horsell,
L. Merlyn-Rees,
B. O'Cathain,
L. Rodgers of Quarry Bank,
B. Serota,
L. Slynn of Hadley (Chairman),
B. Turner of Camden;
That the committee have power to adjourn from place to place;
That the committee have leave to report from time to time;
That the committee have power to appoint specialist advisers;
That the minutes of evidence taken before the committee from time to time shall, if the committee thinks fit, be printed and delivered out;
That the minutes of evidence taken before the Public Service Committee in the last Session of Parliament be referred to the committee; and
That the committee do meet on Tuesday 29th October at a quarter-past four o'clock.--(The Chairman of Committees.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
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