Deregulation Bill Update.

The Deregulation Bill is taking its time. The last sitting was in November. Until that point it was moving quite swiftly.

I monitor the Parliamentary Calender every week and post anything of relevance on here. This weekend there was no plans to discuss the Dereg Bill until beyond the end of the month.

Today I received an Email saying the Report Stage of this Bill will be ventilated on February the 3rd and 5th, next.

What changed here ? I think the following might explain. It appears the bill was nearly abandoned.................

Last Night in the Commons.

Deregulation Bill: Carry-over Extension

7.8 pm

The Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (Tom Brake): I beg to move,

That the period on the expiry of which proceedings on the Deregulation Bill shall lapse in pursuance of paragraph (13) of Standing Order No. 80A shall be extended by 67 days until 30 March 2015.

The Deregulation Bill, the Report stage of which in the other place is expected to begin shortly, was introduced in the House on 23 January 2014. As set out in Standing Order No. 80A, as a carry-over Bill it will fall if it does not receive Royal Assent within 12 months of its First Reading. That date is now approaching. Given the strong interest in and support for the Bill in both Houses, it is only right for us to guard against that, particularly in light of the emergency legislation that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has introduced following the Christmas break.

The motion is intended to ensure that the life of the Bill—an important Bill that has spent some time in both Houses already—will continue until the end of this Parliament. The Bill covers many policy areas and departmental remits, all with the shared goal of reducing or improving the regulatory burden on individuals, businesses and organisations, and as such has properly received a great deal of scrutiny in this House and in the other place.

I can confirm to the House that the motion in no way undermines the Government’s intention to secure Royal Assent prior to the Dissolution of Parliament. Indeed, the Bill constitutes one of the many measures that this Government have pursued relentlessly in order to restore Britain’s economic growth to one of the highest in the developed world, and it makes common-sense reductions to irrelevant and often outdated regulations. I commend the motion to the House.

7.10 pm

Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab): I have some brief comments, but I will not detain the House for long. We will support the motion to extend the life of this rag-bag of a Bill, despite significant reservations about some of the measures in it.

On Second Reading I described the Bill as

“the Christmas tree Bill to end all Christmas tree Bills”—[Official Report, 14 May 2014; Vol. 580, c. 781.].

Since then the festive season has come and gone, but the Bill remains, with some significant baubles added to it. In fact, the Bill is a microcosm of the coalition and its programme of government—some dogmatic and ideological clauses, obligatory attacks on working people and their rights, but mainly a lot of bluster and window-dressing, with some last-minute ill thought-through proposals thrown in as well. It is no wonder that the Bill is coming apart at the seams in the other place.

Given the extended time it is taking the Bill to progress, why did the House not have more time on Report to consider some of the controversial clauses and late additions to it? It is not as though the House has been pressed for time. We are at the dog-end of a Parliament with very little Government business—a zombie Parliament —and it is nevertheless likely that this Bill will end up in 

13 Jan 2015 : Column 836

the wash-up, thanks to the mismanagement of Ministers. I would not take odds on it receiving Royal Assent before Dissolution.

I wonder why, if the measures in the Bill are so very important, it has taken so long to get it through Parliament. My noble Friends in the other place tell me that the Bill is having a tough time there, as I am sure the Minister is aware. The Government have been u-turning on all sorts of things, from pulling dangerous clauses on taxi licensing to dog regulation. I know that Ministers have serious work to do in the Lords, as they are facing pressure from peers on a range of issues including short-term lets, health and safety, parking and their ill thought-out plans to impose an economic growth duty on regulators. I look forward to the improvements made in the other place and to debating them with Ministers in the coming months.

7.12 pm

Mr John Spellar (Warley) (Lab): It was telling that in his introduction, the Minister rightly and properly drew our attention to the fact that the Bill first saw the light of day here on 23 January 2014. In the previous Parliament, when I was in the Government Whips Office, like one or two colleagues present in the Chamber, I would have been appalled and ashamed if we had taken so long to get legislation through. It is a sign of indolence or a dilatory attitude, or of gross incompetence.

I found it extraordinary that on the day that we saw a collapse of the national rail system, the Prime Minister should pose the choice for the next election as competence or chaos, and here we have three Bills for which we have to vote through extensions to time precisely because they have failed the test that the Government set themselves of competence or chaos. They are an absolute shower.

7.14 pm

Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab): In the previous Parliament I had the privilege of chairing the Regulatory Reform Committee, so I have been following the proceedings on this Bill with some interest, albeit from afar as, in this Parliament, the Chair of a different Select Committee. My right hon. Friend the Member for Warley (Mr Spellar) has made an important point. During the previous Parliament, the Labour Government drove through more deregulatory measures than have been achieved by this Government, who have failed abysmally in using the Regulatory Reform Committee and the legislative reform orders that are available to them. They should be ashamed of the progress that they have made given the flying start that we gave them with the procedures that they inherited.

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right about the time that is being spent on the early stages of Bills. We are not being given sufficient time to deal with Bills properly during their passage through this House and the other place. I can see the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes) leaving his place, which is a great pity. I am currently serving on the Infrastructure Bill Committee—my valedictory Bill and the last Bill Committee I will ever serve on, I guess. That is important in the context of what is happening in the generality of this process, because we are seeing, even today, things being added to Bills at the very last minute.

13 Jan 2015 : Column 837

Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab): As usual, my hon. Friend is making some powerful and interesting comments. It is odd that the Government have struggled for such a long time in the past few years to find legislation to put through the House, and we have had a number of days that we have had to fill with other business. Given that record, is it not even more strange that they are having to move these motions tonight?

Andrew Miller: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have faced day after day when the House has risen early because of the appalling management of business by the Government Whips. That has meant that we have not spent the time that was available to us to deal properly and thoughtfully with Bills during their proceedings.

David Wright (Telford) (Lab): One of the messages that this Government tried to give out at the start of this Parliament was that they would try to bring forward less legislation and deal with it comprehensively and carefully. They have clearly failed in that process because we have these motions before us tonight. When I was in the Whips Office under the previous Government, we moved a large number of Bills through this House very efficiently, and managed to get most of them through before the wash-up period. The Government are in real danger of losing this legislation if they are not careful.

Andrew Miller: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. His experience in the Whips Office was incredibly valuable, and he illustrates the point I am making.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Warley observed that this Bill started its proceedings on 23 January—almost a year ago—and it seems quite extraordinary that we are where we are today. The Government ought to wake up. If they are going to serve democracy properly, Bills ought to have the proper amount of time made available to them.

Derek Twigg: We heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central (Chi Onwurah) about the problems with the Bills in the Lords. Is not that because the Government are trying to rush legislation through here and not giving it proper time for debate? That is why it gets into trouble in the Lords?

Andrew Miller: It not only gets into trouble in the Lords but ends up as a shambolic piece of legislation, as 

13 Jan 2015 : Column 838

we have seen with the Infrastructure Bill, which started its passage in the Lords and is now being amended in Committee two or three days before it reaches its Report stage on the Floor of the House. I have no doubt that next week the Government will be asking for a carry-over of that legislation, but I will not stray too much down the road of the Infrastructure Bill, Mr Deputy Speaker, because you will call me to order.

I re-emphasise that the simple reality is that the process of deregulation—the removal of superfluous and unnecessary regulations and the tidying up of regulations through legislative reform orders, which the Opposition brought in when we were in government—was working, but it has failed to work for the whole of this Parliament. If someone needs deregulating, it is the Minister. I look forward to that outcome at the general election.

Question put and agreed to.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Chester

Nine private hire vehicles and five Hackney Carriages were issued with defect notices by council licensing officers

A taxi driver had his cab seized by police who discovered he had been driving around Chester – two months after his licence was revoked.

The driver was pulled over as part of a special operation which saw officers stop 54 private hire vehicles and black cabs in the city centre in a clampdown on safety.

One taxi driver had their licence suspended after officers, from Chester Inner Neighbourhood Policing Unit, discovered an abnormality with the meter on a Hackney Carriage car.

And police seized one cabbie’s car and fined the driver after discovering his licence had been revoked in August this year.

Nine private hire vehicles and five Hackney Carriages were issued with defect notices by council licensing officers, who accompanied police during the three night operation in the run up to Christmas.

These defect notices were handed out for less serious issues, including having a bulb out, and give the operator the opportunity to rectify the issue to prevent any further action being taken, Sgt Andy Burrage explained.
Operation Mitaka saw officers pull taxis off the road for around 10 minutes while they carried out checks, and officers said many passengers were pleased to see the checks were being done.

“In the majority of stops that we carried out, the taxis were found to be fully serviceable and roadworthy and suitable for the carriage of passengers. In most cases, the drivers fully understood the reasons for the stop which only kept them off the road for around 10 minutes whilst the checks were carried out,” said Sgt Burrage.

“It is important that the public are reassured that such checks are carried out on our taxis so that they can be confident when they are using them that they, and the vehicle they are travelling in, are safe.

“Many of the passengers we spoke to were pleased to see the checks being carried out too. I would reiterate to those coming into the city to socialise in the evening that they prebook taxis, or, if hailing one in the street ensure that it is displaying a CWAC plate on the vehicle and the driver is wearing his or her identification card.

“The success of the operation means that it will likely be repeated to ensure the standards are maintained throughout the year.”


http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/taxi-seized-cabbie-driving-round-8443681?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRISTOL

A TAXI driver is on trial for sexually assaulting a woman by kissing her and thrusting her hand down his trousers as he drove.

Abukar Jimale, 46, of Halston Drive, St Paul's, denies the allegations, a jury was told yesterday.

Bristol Crown Court heard she left the taxi at Bristol Temple Meads and photographed his car registration plate on her camera phone before calling police.

Jimale was arrested, interviewed and bailed. It is also alleged that eight months later he grabbed a teenage passenger's hand after asking her: "What's your name, beautiful?"

Jimale denies sexual assault and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent in August 2013. He has not been charged in rel- ation to the second alleged incident.

David Scutt, prosecuting, said the complainant was aged 20 when she had gone out with friends but was left on her own in Bath Road around 1.45am. Mr Scutt said she called a friend, who agreed to pick her up from Bristol Temple Meads, after which Jimale pulled up in a dark coloured taxi and offered to take her to the station.

Mr Scutt told the jury: "She got in. She was a young woman, alone, at night and she felt it was safer to get into a taxi than walk up Bath Road on her own. The Crown's case is that she was wrong about that."

When the woman told Jimale she lived in Bath he offered to take her there for a "ridiculously low" £20, the court heard. He said he lived alone in St Paul's, told her she was pretty and he would love to have a girl like her and asked her if she would spend the night with him.

Mr Scutt said: "Suddenly, without warning, he leant over and kissed her forcibly on the lips, forcing his tongue into her mouth."

He told the court she felt her hand grabbed to his groin. It was then that he put her hand down his trousers.

He added: "She got out of the cab pretty damn quickly. Out of the cab she had the presence of mind to take a photograph of his registration plate on her mobile."

When Jimale was arrested he told police the woman had leant across and kissed him, which happened occasionally with drunk people.

The Crown's case in relation to the second incident is that, in April last year, Jimale picked up a Bristol University student around 3am on Whiteladies Road, offering to take her to her halls of residence. After grabbing her hand and talking about going via the Downs, she started to dial 999 on her phone and got the driver to let her out – before completing her 999 call and reading his car registration number to police.

The 19-year-old student told the jury: "I was sat with my hand on my lap and bag. He did something to the heater of the car. With his left hand he grabbed my right hand and held it up against the heater.

"He kept making regular eye contact, and comments which made me feel a bit uncomfortable. He said 'you're an attractive girl' and asked me what year I was in at university."

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Cabbie-accused-sex-assault-passenger/story-25851374-detail/story.html
  ----------------------------------------------

NOTTINGHAM

Robbers 'cut off taxi driver's fingers and stabbed him over £5 fare'

Taxi driver Vladimir Qevani said his fingers became trapped in a door frame after he was lured to a house to collect a fare

Two of a taxi driver's fingers were chopped off in a door after he was lured to a house and robbed and stabbed in Clifton, a jury heard.

Vladmir Qevani drove his Skoda Octavia taxi to Cherhill Close, Clifton, to collect a £5 outstanding fare when he was attacked.

Five people went on trial yesterday accused of robbing him of cash and a mobile phone on December 11, 2013.

Mr Qevani, a self-employed driver for NG11 Cars, Clifton, was allegedly "set up" to be robbed.

He told jurors at Nottingham Crown Court he was dragged inside a house after he arrived.

He held on to the frame of a door – but it was shut on his fingers three or four times.

Abigail Joyce, prosecuting, asked Mr Qevani: "What happened to your fingers?"

Mr Qevani replied: "They got chopped off in the door."

The driver walked over and showed jurors his two shorter fingers on his left hand where the tips had gone.

He also described how he was held in a headlock inside the house and told to hand over his money.

His pockets were searched and he was stabbed in his left thigh.

Miss Joyce said Mr Qevani was set up to be robbed by defendants Kirsty Miller and Craig Grocock.

Co-accused Lance Reid, Cornelius Duggan and Leon Fuller were allegedly together in an Astra car before the robbery.

Miller, 25, of Cherhill Close; Grocock, 25, of Whitney Close, Top Valley; Reid, 36, of Elford Rise, Sneinton; Cornelius Duggan, 25, of Hartness Road, Clifton, and Fuller, 27, of Ladysmith Street, Sneinton, deny robbery.

"The prosecution say that Fuller drove Reid and Duggan to the robbery and waited in the car to drive them away," she Miss Joyce.

"Duggan and Reid went to Miller's address and laid in wait for the arrival of Mr Qevani.

"Once he arrived he was dragged into the house after Kirsty Miller lured him there on the pretence of paying the taxi fare."

Reid is further accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice with defendants Richard McGuire, 47, a taxi driver of Whitegate Vale, Clifton, and Shareen Morris, 25, of Wilkins Gardens, Clifton, between April 1 and June 10, last year.

All charges are denied

The trial continues


http://www.nottinghampost.com/Robbers-cut-cabbie-s-fingers/story-25852159-detail/story.html