Aviation: Regulatory Burden

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2014 Grand Committee

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate and to the noble Lord, Lord Rotherwick, for introducing it in his usual considered terms. He indicated the scale of general aviation and the number of flights; it is an important part of the sporting and recreational interests of the nation and a crucial part of the aviation industry as a whole.

The noble Lord mentioned the Minister without Portfolio, Grant Shapps. I feel that his ministerial position should be extended slightly and I will describe the necessity for that in my remaining remarks. The noble Lord told us how much the right honourable gentleman had backed the changes to the legislation that were being effected and how, not surprisingly as a Minister, he was very much in favour of them. He does, however, fly from a private airfield near to where I live and where he is in some dispute with the local authority about prospective planning permission with regard to buildings on the airfield. That issue is unresolved—it is due to be resolved in due course—and I do not mind the Minister commenting on it as long as he declares an interest. I wish he had declared an interest that he is a flier from a private airfield. It matters even more when I can attest to the fact that it is his aircraft that causes me to miss my putt on the sixth hole of the local golf course on some weekend mornings. So Grant Shapps and I have a little in common on these issues.

The noble Lord, Lord Rotherwick, made the case for the reduction of regulations to the minimum, but the minimum consistent with safety. The noble Earl, Lord Liverpool, mentioned medical tests. It is obviously a great danger if people fly when they are not fit enough to do so. It is dangerous enough if they drive cars on the highway when unfit to do so, but when flying an aircraft it is infinitely more serious. I hope the Minister can reassure us that all the necessary medical requirements are met, particularly against the background where medicine changes in its perspective. I remember being lobbied a few years by a group which was seeking to bring to the Government’s attention the illness of apnoea and the problem of people falling asleep while in control of a motor vehicle—not through excessive activity or a shortage of sleep the night before, but through the development of an illness. That has to be taken seriously in regard to motoring and I hope it is taken equally seriously in regard to aircraft.

There has in recent weeks been great concern about people who, even though they are qualified to drive and feel they are inherently safe drivers, have what is vulgarly called “the jumps”, where they suddenly realise they had lost a moment of concentration and then recovered it. We do not know how many accidents are caused by such a phenomenon, but certainly there are enough for us to be acutely aware of it. We must make sure that we keep a close watch on the development of illnesses of this kind and on the general level of fitness to drive—and whatever applies to fitness to drive must surely apply to fitness to fly.

The point I particularly wanted to pick up on was touched upon by the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, but almost in passing. It concerns the relationship between civil aviation and the Home Office and the control of our borders and space. I am much more concerned than the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, who seemed to indicate that the Home Office and the border agency were not too oppressive in their dealings with such flights. Far from being oppressive, from this side of the House it looks as though the border agency has no idea of what is going on with regard to flights. As we all know, there is a large number of aircraft in this sector—the noble Lord, Lord Rotherwick, referred to this—and a plethora of airfields, at least 520, where aircraft can be landed, but the border agency tells us that it has no idea what is happening with regard to these airports. What is going on? If there is concern about the security of our borders—and my goodness me, the Government have drawn attention to this in recent months with increased anxiety—to have a sector which the border agency says is completely unchecked and in which there is no question of it knowing the number of flights or passengers, who lands and who lands where, is an extraordinary position as far as our overall security is concerned when we are all conscious of the fact that we need to protect ourselves effectively.

It may be said that these regulations have nothing to do with it. If it is not these regulations, will the Minister explain which regulations are being used to tighten up this position? There could certainly be anxieties about the way in which general aviation flights contribute to the problem. We expect the Government to know about the nature of these flights, who is on them and who comes into the country. Otherwise all the checks which are continually drummed up for our ports, at huge inconvenience to passengers going through security who have to wait for hours on occasion, can be completely disregarded by anybody who can get in a private aircraft and arrive at a private airfield. This is something that needs attention. Although the Minister may be sorely tempted to say that regulations do not address the security issue, I do not think we can have a debate about general aviation without her addressing this position.