Air Traffic Management (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Chidgey (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I begin by acknowledging that, before entering Parliament, I enjoyed a progressive career in the aerospace and related industries, recognised by my becoming a companion of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

I congratulate the Minister on her courteous introduction to this debate by email and her detailed explanation today. It certainly is a detailed, technical matter. The safety, oversight and network functions are clearly explained, but not necessarily understood. The Minister mentioned that, where possible, roles were being transferred to the UK. Can she provide examples when she responds? She also talked about the 2019 regulations relying on the 2000 Transport Act and that the CAA and NATS were supportive. Can she mention any areas in which they were not supportive? It would be helpful to know. I note my colleague, my noble friend Lord Bradshaw’s telling point about leaving a system in which we have leadership, which we are now abandoning, along with aircraft production.

Hansard records in volume 788 of 17 January 2018 that I asked the Government for their assessment of warnings from the United States Federal Aviation Administration, should out Government fail to negotiate a continuing role in the European Aviation Safety Authority or set up a British regime before exiting the EU. The response from the then Minister was,

“we … have been working with them since early last year on arrangements to replace the EU-US bilateral … agreement … to ensure that … existing arrangements for the recognition of safety certification between the UK and US continue to apply.”—[Official Report, 17/1/18; col 635.]

When we debated the impact of leaving the EU on the aviation and aerospace industry in 2018, we noted that its value to our economy was £32 billion a year; it supported 128,000 direct jobs and 153,000 indirect jobs, many highly skilled and cutting-edge in their technology, and an area in which our economy needs to grow and continue to excel in. The Covid-19 catastrophe has already seen thousands, if not tens of thousands, of these types of jobs lost. Therefore, referring back to the comment of the then Minister in January 2018 that we have been working to ensure that

“existing arrangements for the recognition of safety certification … continue to apply”—[Official Report, 17/1/18; col. 636]

can the Minister confirm that these arrangements between the UK and US were concluded satisfactorily?

In so far as these traffic management regulations will apply and overlap with technology associated with the air-side and on-board aviation, will these arrangements continue to apply should the UK leave the EU without an agreement—which of course these regulations refer to?

Finally, on 25 February 2019, the Government confirmed that NATS would continue to be,

“the UK’s en route air navigation services provider … there will be no difference”.—[Official Report, 25/2/19; col. 68.]

The Minister may not be aware that NATS is located at Bursledon and Swanwick, in the Eastleigh constituency that I had the good fortune to represent. Any reduction in NATS’s role could risk severe implications for local employment. Can the Minister say whether the UK leaving the EU without an agreement would increase that risk?