Fresh fears raised over TCs’ independence
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chris.tindall@rbi.co.uk THE RELATIONSHIP between VOSA and the Trafic Commissioners (TCs) has again been questioned after a letter to the Senior TC from a civil servant outlining administrative changes was released to CM under the Freedom of Information Act.
Transport lawyers warn the letter’s contents potentially put VOSA chief executive Alastair Peoples in a dificult position and could place him too close to the TCs.
The letter, dated 26 November 2010, states that Peoples is expected “to contribute to the underpinning processes around recruitment, retention and monitoring of personal performance” of the TCs.
The anonymous civil servant calls on STC Philip Brown to allow Peoples to see any leave taken by the TCs, adding: “The [Department for Transport] has also asked Alastair to devise and implement with you a process whereby he has visibility of the hours worked by individual TCs.” It says that in future when a TC needs to make checks about potential conlicts of interest, they should contact Peoples directly, not the author of the letter. It also claims that the terms and conditions of individual TCs are not altered by these changes. This has been questioned by North West TC Beverley Bell, while Brown has insisted there is no threat to the TCs’ judicial independ ence following the dispute (CM 27 January).
Peter Woodhouse, partner at Stone King solicitors, says it is important to ensure the TCs are subject to inancial scrutiny: “The genuine concern here is to what extent this iscal visibility is likely to give rise to a perception, justiied or otherwise, that the TCs are subject to the control of VOSA.
“I think that there is a risk of that, which should be avoided. It could be avoided very easily by giving the Ministry of Justice accounting oficer responsibility for TC oversight, rather than the VOSA accounting oficer.” Anton Balkitis, transport lawyer at Rothera Dowson, says: “Surely Alastair Peoples, as VOSA CEO, could be faced with dificult decisions when looking particularly at recruitment and reten tion of TCs and their deputies. After all, they have the power to make decisions which he could construe to be prejudicial or unfavourable to VOSA.” A DfT spokeswoman says VOSA does not have the power to inluence the TCs’ decisions and that using Peoples as a direct contact for conlicts of interest matters “is a simpliication of the process. It is more appropriate that Alastair Peoples as accounting oficer for the TCs should be made aware of any potential conlicts.”