Hansard

First of all, I offer my apologies, Presiding Officer: I misjudged what I was about to do. I offer my sincere apologies to you and to the Parliament. Thank you very much for this opportunity, Presiding Officer.

This afternoon, we are debating a motion on the UK Government’s Automated Vehicles Bill. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of autonomous vehicles and of keeping pace with advances in technology in a fast-changing market. Self-driving vehicle technologies and services will not be successful in the UK without a regulatory framework that provides certainty for innovators and investors and that gives the public confidence that the technologies are safe, secure, accessible and inclusive and that they work in the interests of society.

The bill implements the recommendations of a four-year review of the regulation of automated vehicles that was carried out jointly by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission. The bill sets out a new comprehensive regulatory, legislative and safety framework for the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles in Great Britain. A suite of implementing regulations will be developed by the UK Government, and the Scottish Government will work closely with the UK Government, stakeholders and safety groups throughout the development of the regulations. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport and I welcome their support, which is necessary for the legislative framework.

The motion covers the clauses of the bill that, as is set out in the supplementary legislative consent memorandum, fall within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament or alter the executive competence of Scottish ministers. The Scottish Government recommends consent to all the provisions that are outlined in the supplementary legislative consent memorandum other than clause 50, the reasons for which I will explain later. UK ministers have requested to meet the cabinet secretary to discuss that clause, but the fact that the bill is moving at pace through Westminster means that we need to present our views as a Government now.

I will explain the clauses that are outlined in the supplementary LCM in turn. Clause 40 is the power to require reports from the police and local authorities. It permits the Secretary of State for Transport to make regulations that will require Scottish ministers to provide reports on incidents involving autonomous vehicles in Scotland. That is to ensure that the secretary of state has the relevant information to decide whether enforcement action should be taken. The Scottish Government already shares information with the Department for Transport, as it informs an annual publication on road casualties in Great Britain.

Clauses 46 to 51 establish the legal liability of the user in charge of an automated vehicle. Those clauses provide immunity from driver-related traffic offences for individuals operating a vehicle in automated mode. When the self-driving feature is engaged, the user in charge will not be responsible for the way in which the vehicle is driven, but they must be ready to respond to a command to take back the operation of the vehicle. They will also retain responsibility for issues not linked to the way that the vehicle is driven—for example, appropriate car insurance, parking legally and paying tolls and charges.

The UK Government considers those clauses to be reserved because they relate to the Road Traffic Act 1988, which is mostly reserved under the Scotland Act 1998 and is concerned with the use of vehicles on roads. The UK Government acknowledges that those provisions will apply to devolved driving offences but considers that the impacts on devolved matters are incidental to that reserved matter.

The Scottish Government considers that the UK Government has taken too broad a view of what is reserved. Any and all regulation of the use of conventional vehicles is not reserved. For example, traffic regulation under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 is not reserved, and therefore any and all regulation of the use of automatic vehicles is not a reserved matter. The Scottish Government’s view is that determining the liability of any user in charge or any other person for devolved driving offences has a devolved purpose and sits within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government is content with the policy position of the user-in-charge immunity clauses on the basis that the Law Commission has undertaken an extensive multiyear, expert-led review on the principle of those clauses, which aligns with the recommendations of the joint report.