Speeches by Greenwood.

“The right hon. Gentleman raises an important point. We know that people are booking tests in parts of the country where they have no intention of taking a test, because they can swap that for a test in another driving test centre. That is one of the issues addressed in the call for evidence that was launched in Decembe…”

“We are acting to fix the mess that the shadow Minister’s Government left behind. Our seven-point plan is being implemented, and last month, the Secretary of State announced additional measures. We are determined to succeed where the last Government failed.”

“The power is there for the local authority to use it, if there are those overruns. I am willing to look at this again if we feel it is not having the desired impact.”

“There is good practice out there in the highways world. There will be places where this is happening really effectively. Perhaps inevitably, local authorities are coming to the Committee and telling you about the things that are not going so well rather those that just work and where there are good relationships.”

“I am Lilian Greenwood, the Minister for the Future of Roads.”

“I absolutely understand the frustration felt by all our constituents when the roads are dug up, and particularly when they are not properly reinstated. We know that lumpy, bumpy streets cause difficulties for everyone. I reflected on the evidence that you heard from Emma Vogelmann at Transport for All. They have partic…”

“There are a few things in that question. Everyone will recognise that the state of our roads has become a terrible mess. I do not know whether it is as bad in Scotland as it is in England, but certainly that is an issue that gets raised with me very regularly, both through correspondence and just out and about as a Mem…”

“I absolutely recognise that, if reinstatements have been poorly done, that will be a contributing factor to it. I have now completely forgotten the second part of your question.”

“There is a two-year guarantee for most works, and a three-year guarantee for works deeper than 1.2 metres. I know that, in Scotland, they have moved to a six-year guarantee period, and we will be interested to see what the evidence shows from that and whether it makes a difference. Like you, I questioned why a two to t…”

“I do not disagree, except that I know that it has been consulted on previously and rejected, so I would want to go back to look at the consultation in a bit more detail and see why it was rejected. I do not know whether part of it would relate to the fact that you will sometimes get a multiplicity of reinstatements, an…”

“One of the specific purposes of HAUC is to share good practice and guidance about what works. That is from the people who are doing it day in, day out. We rely on HAUC to provide some of that guidance, specifically as practitioners, because they can share what works and come together to agree it.”

“It is still fairly early days in terms of seeing how it is operating. As I already said, it is about trying to incentivise good behaviour, and there is also a financial impact from it. All companies began on either a 30% or 50% sample rate, depending on their performance in the previous year. The information that we ha…”

“I should just add that, interestingly, not every utility company operates to the same standard in different places. There is variation. They will be using different contractors in different areas. I am not going to name any utility companies, because I will upset them, but one might be performing well in one area but n…”

“As I understand it, we have moved from a position where there used to be unlimited numbers of reinspections to a situation where there are two and then it goes into an escalation process. The thing that we want is not for utility companies particularly to be paying fines. What we want them to do is to do a decent job t…”

“They seem reluctant to do so.”

“There is an escalation process already written into the regulations, which is that, after two failed inspections, there is a three-stage process, which involves committees at a local and regional level, so there can be escalation.”

“It depends on what motivates utility companies. My own experience of seeing where you have a poorly performing broadband provider that comes into your area and gets a lot of bad press is that it does motivate them to say that they are going to do something about it. You can use that escalation process to hold people to…”

“I am very willing to look at further developments, and we welcome the work that the Committee is doing on looking into this. If there are recommendations for how it could be done more effectively, we will certainly be very happy to consult with local authorities and utility companies to see whether there is a better wa…”

“If local authorities want to provide evidence in relation to the need to increase, we have heard that. The request from the Department has been for further evidence from local authorities in order for us to look at whether that would be a reasonable thing to do. Whenever we put cost into this, it is ultimately going to…”

“Inspection fees are for undertaking the inspection. You are going to have to undertake the inspection, whether you find a defect or not. They are higher if you are required to pay for more inspections.”