Environment and Public Services - establishment of Ministers and Departments (P.120-2005) – amendment (P.120-2005Amd.) - comments

STATES OF JERSEY

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ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICES: ESTABLISHMENT OF MINISTERS AND DEPARTMENTS (P.120/2005) – AMENDMENT (P.120/2005 AMD.) – COMMENTS

Presented to the States on 5th July 2005 by the Home Affairs Committee

STATES GREFFE

COMMENTS

The Home Affairs Committee opposes this amendment. At its meeting on 16th June, the Home Affairs Committee discussed the future of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Department. Whilst it agreed with the transfer of certain responsibilities to a new Transport and Technical Services Ministry, it did not agree with the transfer of the whole department.

The Committee agreed that as part of the integrated transport policy for the Island, Environmental and Public Services should take on the responsibility of all administration for the taxi-cab industry forthwith. They also agreed that some parts of current legislation could be transferred. This would be entirely consistent with a responsibility for transport policy since it would put the administration of all public service vehicles under one Ministry. However, these responsibilities are quite different from the regulatory functions performed by Driver and Vehicle Standards.

The following points summarise what the Home Affairs Committee sees as the case against the wholesale transfer of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Department to another Ministry –

1. T he Driver and Vehicle Standards Department, as the name implies, is responsible for the licensing, registration, condition and standards of drivers and their vehicles, not for traffic managementand planning, i.e. the Department is responsible for regulating motor vehicles and drivers whichuse the roads, not the use of the roadsthemselves.
2. T he Public Services Department is responsible for the formulation and administration of the Island's transport strategy into whichotherdepartments, such as Housing, Education, Sport and Culture, Policy and Resources as well as the Driver and Vehicle StandardsDepartment, have an input.ThePublicServices Departmentalsomanagestrafficvolumes, flows, parkingand systems.
3. T he technical and administrative expertise for traffic engineering available at the Public Services Department is different to the legislative and enforcement expertise relating to Driver and Vehicle Standards. The latter is very closely aligned to a police responsibility as it is in most countries.
4. T h e Home Affairs Committee,andbefore it the Defence Committee,inconnection with its other associated enforcement duties has, since 1935, been regardedas the appropriateCommittee to administerpolicies relating to the enforcement of legislation ondriver licensing, vehicle registration and vehiclesstandards.
5. T h e Public ServicesDepartmenthas the responsibility for advising on the policy forpublic transport, bus routes, fares, etc. whilst the Driverand Vehicle StandardsDepartmentisresponsible for ensuringpublic service vehicles and their drivers meet the prescribed standardsof fitness and safety. It is noteworthy that the Isle ofMan,Northern Ireland and Gibraltarsplit the responsibility forthe taxi industry, whereone committeeisresponsibleforthe administration andpolicy, whilst the fitness of both drivers andvehiclesis dealt with by a separate committee.
6. T h e working relationships ofstaffat the Driver and Vehicle StandardsDepartmentis predominantly with police forces, registration bodies and licensing authorities, mostofwhichdonot have anyconnectionwith Public Services. The close cohesion and liaison that hastakenmanyyears to establish with the Police,both States andHonorary, foreign registration and licensing authorities, has been aided considerably by the link with HomeAffairs.TheDriverand Vehicle StandardsDepartmentactsautonomouslyandmaybeless effective if its regulatory functionswereabsorbedwithinvariousdivisionsof another ministry.
7. I f theDriverand Vehicle StandardsDepartmentbecomessubsumedwithintheTransportandTechnical Services Ministry, there may no longer be an independent and autonomous department for the investigation, examinationand reporting of defective oraccidentdamagedvehicles for the police andother agencies.
8. G enerally, the Jersey publicrespectsDriver and Vehicle Standards. This respect has been built upover the past 70yearsthrough its forerunner, the Motor Traffic Office. That perception may notbe sustained if the

Driver and Vehicle Standards Department functions were seen to be administered and possibly absorbed within a

new department.

The most irregular aspect of this amendment is that the Environment and Public Services Committee has never sought any dialogue with the Home Affairs Committee over what amounts to a take-over bid' for one of its departments. This is not the way that government business should be managed. Members are therefore urged to support the report and proposition which would allow time for a considered view to be taken on the appropriate political administration of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Department, a consensus to be reached and a sensible recommendation made to the States once ministerial government is in force.