Committee
Public Petitions Committee 08 March 2011
08 Mar 2011 · S3 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
Current Petitions
School Bus Safety (PE1098 and PE1223)
There are some issues on which we cannot make progress. The officials can flesh this out if necessary, but Westminster has said that it will not devolve traffic legislation. We are therefore not looking to make progress with the prohibition on overtaking—a point that has been made clear previously. However, we are looking to make progress on signage and all the other issues. Some very good examples of signage have been used in Aberdeenshire, for example. We want to tighten things up and ensure that the disparities that appear to exist among local authorities reduce gradually over time. I think that my children, for example, still travel on a school bus that does not have seat belts. By using the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, we might be able to make progress with seat belts very quickly, although not to the point of making it a crime to fail to provide them. However, we could do that subsequently. The officials will correct me if I am wrong, but we are not pursuing the plans on overtaking.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Lab
PE1098 and PE1223, on school bus safety, are from Lynn Merrifield and Ron Beaty. I welcome Keith Brown, the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure and his...
Bill Butler
Lab
Good afternoon, minister and colleagues. On 26 October 2010, Mike Penning MP said that the UK Government could“devolve powers on school transport if the Scot...
The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure (Keith Brown)
SNP
If I may, convener, I will answer the question by way of a couple of opening remarks. I understand the committee’s frustration about the time that it has tak...
Bill Butler
Lab
I know that this will be a difficult question to answer, but what approximate timeline does the minister envisage for getting the discussions between the leg...
Keith Brown
SNP
The discussion should not be held up by our election, because officials can continue to work on it. Further work will depend on the new Parliament and on who...
Bill Butler
Lab
I am grateful to the minister for that answer.
Nigel Don (North East Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
Good afternoon, minister. Many points have been made in relation to this issue. Are there any with which it will not be possible to make progress because of ...
Keith Brown
SNP
There are some issues on which we cannot make progress. The officials can flesh this out if necessary, but Westminster has said that it will not devolve traf...
Jill Mulholland (Transport Scotland)
That is right. The offer is not the devolution of road traffic legislation on issues such as overtaking. However, at this committee, Mr Penning said that he ...
Nigel Don
SNP
Mr Penning has other things on his plate, but when he gets time to think about it, there is the prospect of UK-wide legislation to change some things.14:45
Keith Brown
SNP
That is right. It would require legislation to insist that all buses had seat belts rather than legislation to insist, for example, that only buses that had ...
Cathie Craigie
Lab
Can the minister expand on why we are not pursuing the proposal on overtaking school buses? I know that legislation on that is reserved to Westminster, but t...
Keith Brown
SNP
I cannot speak for my predecessor, but I have not spoken about that specifically with Mike Penning. We ranged across a number of different subjects, but not ...
John Wilson
SNP
As I understand it, local authorities can impose outside schools 20mph zones as well as zig-zag no-parking zones. Could not the power be transferred to local...
Keith Brown
SNP
I think that I am right in saying that in the two examples that you gave the powers had to be devolved to local authorities, so that would have to be done fo...
John Wilson
SNP
If Westminster could devolve powers in relation to 20mph zones and zig-zag no-parking zones, surely it could go one step further and help to stop overtaking ...
Nanette Milne
Con
I presume that the problem is not just around schools and that it must also be a problem when a child gets off a bus at their destination. The law would ther...
Keith Brown
SNP
In theory, there is the largest concentration of children around schools, although I imagine that one would want to apply the law more widely. However, our r...
Robin Harper
Green
The minister talked about the likelihood that drivers would not observe the fact that they should not overtake buses. Of course, it is not only buses that st...
Keith Brown
SNP
I am being passed some information. From memory, the twenty’s plenty initiative had to be devolved from Parliament to local authorities. I am not sure about ...
Ian Robertson (Transport Scotland)
It is difficult for a driver to judge whether he is doing 10mph. The speedometer is not accurate enough.
Robin Harper
Green
In Jersey there are 15mph limits.
Ian Robertson
I think that there is one in Orkney as well. Generally, anything less than 20mph is a bit difficult.
Robin Harper
Green
I will meet you halfway.
The Convener
Lab
If there are no more questions, I ask the committee how it would like to deal with the petition.
Bill Butler
Lab
We are all grateful to the minister for coming to the meeting. It appears from what he has said that some welcome progress has been made. I hope that as soon...
The Convener
Lab
It might be useful for our successor committee to have a note about the possible legal constraints surrounding the issue, because that was new information fo...
The Convener
Lab
I thank Keith Brown, Jill Mulholland and Ian Robertson for coming along. We have not made the minister late for his next meeting.