Civil sanctions caused much discussion as to why the registrar felt that he needed or wanted the power to issue sanctions. The question would be put to the registrar at the afternoon meeting. The national associations were split on whether or not they supported civil sanctions.
Item 2
Again much discussion over the standards check and the lack of information coming from DSA. The marking sheet came under criticism because of the over emphasis on the element risk assessment. It was correctly said that under proposals it was possible to score low on risk assessment and high in all other categories and fail, this is because risk assessment carry’s an automatic failure. The opposite was possible such as scoring high in risk assessment and scoring low in the rest and because some elements were not covered the a pass was possible. Greater clarity was to be asked for.
Grading system was also discussed the consensus was a straight pass or fail. Most saw no sense in grades other than to promote yourself. With DSA standards check to give a numerical number it should be possible to promote any achievement via this. As the public don’t understand the current grading system then by using your pass number it will have the same effect.
Item 3
Green paper, this was difficult to discuss as to date we have no idea when it will be published; however the agenda stated what do we want from it. Discussion was around possible 'Graduated Driving Licences' and restrictions on newly qualified drivers. We were aware than more proposals could have implications on any government chances of being re-elected so although they would be in the green paper there was very little chance of them getting into statute.
Item 4
The code of practice still causes concern for some associations and it was sugested that it needs rewriting even though it has only just been revised.
This would be put to the registrar.