Ahead of an expected appearance next week in front of the Transport Committee’s inquiry into alleged abuse of Section 19 permits (s19), the Department for Transport’s evidence has been published.
In its submission the DfT says that it is “exploring whether and if so how it can make use of the ‘short distance’ derogation” that would exclude some types of ‘commercial’ work from O-Licencing.
Although the closing date for evidence was 3 November, many submissions have just been added to the inquiry’s website, including the DfT’s, taking the number of written responses up from 124 last week to 257 (routeone, 15 November, Big Story).
The DfT’s 2,777-word submission explains the background to its actions and its efforts to clarify the situation, ahead of its yet-to-be-published consultation, and formal revisions to the guidance, to comply with EU Regulation 1071/2009, that came into force on 4 December 2011.
It says it expects compliance (requiring an O-Licence instead of s19) to “primarily be an issue for organisations essentially acting as bus companies and carrying out commercial work.”
It adds: “The DfT has no plans to end the s19 and 22 system. But questions, and legal challenges, have been raised about the appropriateness of two competing potential service providers having to meet different road safety standards and consequently fairness of competition.”
It admits that the Transport Act 1985 “has never been updated” to reflect 1071, which was agreed in the EU in 2009, meaning “that there is inconsistency between EU and domestic legislation. Nor has the guidance on gov.uk about section 19 and 22 permits been clarified to reflect the EU Regulation.”
In a move to reassure the sector, it says ”the DfT’s view was, and remains, that many community transport operators will remain unaffected by this clarification.”
It adds that it “sought to understand the potential scale of this issue” including asking the Association of Transport Commissioning Officers, Local Government Association, Community Transport Association and Mobility Matters “to provide examples or evidence” but did not receive an indication that it was an issue in more than a “handful of locations” until mid-October.
It adds: “We will continue to work with the sector and the bodies representing it, to explore new ways of working and methods of minimising the additional burdens and impacts.”
Find out more: DfT submission here
