CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY AND THE GOVERNMENT (Hansard, 30 June 1977)

§ Baroness BURTON of COVENTRY
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

Lord ORAM
My Lords, the Civil Aviation Authority is a statutory public body and the statutory relationship between the Authority and Her Majesty's Government is that established by the Civil Aviation Act 1971. Part I of the Act defines the constitution and functions of the Authority and sets out the ways in which Her Majesty's Government may regulate the performance by the Authority of its functions.

§ Baroness BURTON of COVENTRY
My Lords, I spent this morning studying the Civil Aviation Act, and I am wondering whether the noble Lord will agree that in it we are told that the Government and the Authority work closely together wherever both international and domestic aspects of civil aviation are concerned. Arising out of that, and out of that cooperation, can the Minister clear up something which left me, anyway, in a muddle last week? Do the Government consider that they have the responsibility and the authority to make suggestions, though not to offer directives, to the Civil Aviation Authority?

Lord ORAM
My Lords, in addition to formal directives, my right honourable friend can offer guidance to the Authority, 1216 but Section 3 of the Act makes it quite clear that the guidance is to relate to really major matters of aviation policy and not small matters of day-to-day administration. Indeed, if he does offer such guidance it is only by the Authority of Resolutions of each House of Parliament.

§ Baroness BURTON of COVENTRY
My Lords, can the noble Lord tell me, arising out of that reply but considered from a slightly different angle, whether he recalls that, during the protracted discussions on the renegotiation of the Bermuda Agreement, it was said that if agreement was not reached United States' airlines would not be allowed to land in this country? On whose authority would such a decision be taken? Would it be that of the Government, or that of the Civil Aviation Authority? Or would it be the subject of this co-operation that I have already mentioned?

Lord ORAM
That, my Lords, I imagine would be a joint matter of consultation between the Government and the Civil Aviation Authority. Certainly, it is the Government who would take final decisions in such a broad matter, but the matter which my noble friend pursues in her series of Questions does not rank with that in any way.

Lord BRUCE of DONINGTON
My Lords, will my noble friend reaffirm his own right honourable friend's ministerial political responsibility as a Minister for these matters regardless, if necessary, of the advice that he may receive from his permanent civil servants?

Lord ORAM
My Lords, my right honourable friend can only act within the law, and the law is the Civil Aviation Act 1971. His powers of direction relate only to situations in time of war, whether actual or imminent, and he deals with matters of national security and the fulfilment of this country's international obligations. It is in that order of business that my right honourable friend is able to exercise his authority.

§ Baroness BURTON of COVENTRY
My Lords, may I ask one further question? As the Government accept from the Civil Aviation Authority and the airlines that the practice of overbooking is to 1217 continue—an opinion which he knows I do not share—may I ask the noble Lord, unless he regards it as too small a matter in view of what he said previously, whether the Government are actually taking the stand that, although they consider that overbooking should be allowed to continue, they do not agree that air travellers should be given the facts when they buy their tickets and before they take their flights?

Lord ORAM
My Lords, if I may say so, my noble friend leaves the impression that the whole problem of overbooking is as it was a year or 18 months ago. That is very far from the case. We have a voluntary scheme of compensation which is now operated by 27 overseas airlines and 10 United Kingdom airlines. The question of the return ticket is now being pursued in the European Civil Aviation Conference. It is difficult to quantify these matters, but, in my estimation, the problem has been 99 per cent. met. There is the continuing problem of the degree of publicity for the compensation scheme and, on this, Her Majesty's Government accept the view of the Civil Aviation Authority.