Draft Transport Act 2000 (Air Traffic Services Licence Modification Appeals) (Prescribed Aerodromes) Regulations 2022

Mike Kane Excerpts

Tuesday 11th January 2022 General Committees

[Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

It is pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Miller. I thought that the Minister was gesticulating wildly, but it was only part of his explanation about planes over 7,000 feet—anyway, he caught my attention.

The CAA regulates the UK’s aviation sector, its primary duty being to maintain a high standard of safety in the provision of air traffic services. That is of course something that we are keen to maintain. Additional responsibilities of the CAA are to further the interests of operators and owners of aircraft, owners and managers of aerodromes, persons travelling in aircraft and persons with rights in property carried in them. It is also charged with promoting efficiency and economy, and those who hold licences must also take account of any guidance on environmental objectives given to them by the Secretary of State. The Transport Act 2000, at the start of its 384 pages, says:

“The Secretary of State must exercise his functions… to promote efficiency and economy on the part of licence holders”

and

“to secure that licence holders will not find it unduly difficult to finance activities authorised by their licences.”

The circumstances of the past two years have seen the aviation sector decimated by the covid-19 pandemic, with many job losses and the industry burning through cash reserves every day as it waits for the skies to reopen, so it is crucial that the CAA plays a role in supporting the financial efficiency of licence holders.

In addition, the CAA is the economic regulator of NERL, as the Minister said. NERL is owned by NATS, which provides en-route air traffic services in the United Kingdom. Those services are governed by a licence granted to NERL and are thus responsible for monitoring and enforcing NERL’s compliance with the conditions of the licence and with licence holder duties. As illustrated here, it plays a vital role in supporting our aviation industry.

Section 11 of the aforementioned Act enables the CAA to modify licence conditions, with a licence to provide air traffic services. The statutory instrument is being moved to ensure that owners or managers of the relevant aerodromes can appeal against modifications to licence conditions made under the Act, as any other industry operators can do.

I have a couple of comments about the process undertaken to arrive at this SI. I note that there was no consultation undertaken, although guidance was sought from the CAA. It would be interesting for us to know whether the CAA needed any assurances during those discussions. Were any points raised of which we might need to be aware? Indeed, was there any particular reason for the lack of formal consultation? Continuing on the theme of consultation, I note that no equality impact assessment seems to have been undertaken. If there was one, could the Minister agree to share its findings?

I also note that a complete impact assessment has not been undertaken, with the explanation given that the cost to business was predicted to be less than £5 million per annum. What was that prediction based on? It is noted that, by permitting prescribed aerodromes to appeal decisions, a likely result could be a greater number of appeals being launched. I observe that during the consultation phase there were no aerodromes appealing modifications to licences. However, as we know, situations develop rapidly, so to what end has that possibility been investigated and considered?

I am happy to lend the Opposition’s support to the instrument, and I look forward to the Minister’s response to my questions.