Review of the Commission for Integrated Transport

9. The Motorists' Forum

In this section the role and work of the Motorists' Forum is assessed against the requirements of this review: first, to ascertain whether there is a continuing need for the Forum; and second, to determine whether changes are needed to improve its performance. As stated in Chapter 2, the main focus of this review has been on CfIT and not on the Motorists' Forum, therefore the level of detail taken for this part of the review is much less.

The Motorists' Forum was formally launched in January 2000 as a group to advise on policy proposals affecting motorists. The Forum aims to ensure that motoring interests and car users' views are represented properly in the development of both Government and local authority policies that could impact on motorists. The current members of the Forum, along with their affiliations and period of appointment, are listed in the table below.

The Motorists' Forum conducts its main business through plenary meetings, holding four a year (normally in January, April, July and October). The Department also attends plenary meetings in an advisory capacity.

The Forum's Chairman is also CfIT's Vice-Chair and the rules governing CfIT appointments mean he will be standing down from this position in March 2004. Unlike CfIT, Forum members are not appointed for a specified term and are not required to go through a re-appointment procedure.

The Motorists' Forum's budget is not generally tracked separately to that of CfIT and the budget requirements are small, the total external consultancy costs since its launch being just £38,330, as shown in Appendix O.

The Motorists' Forum secretariat is small, comprising two staff, the secretary and his assistant. The Forum is able to call upon the services of the CfIT secretariat on those occasions where workload is high.

9.1 Views of the Motorists' Forum's Stakeholders

This sub-section covers the views of stakeholders about the Motorists' Forum, its functions and services and how effectively these have been performed. Opinions were sought from all Motorists' Forum members, Government department representatives where the work of the Motorists' Forum has been of relevance and external stakeholders, either through interviews or by questionnaires. A total of 6 people were interviewed specifically for their views on the Motorists' Forum plus the Chairman and a further 7 questionnaire responses were received, details can be found in Appendix D and Appendix E respectively. In addition, many of those interviewed specifically about CfIT and who have had contact with the Motorists' Forum offered their views. The interviews and questionnaires focussed on the same five aspects as was the case for CfIT, these being:

The role of the Motorists' Forum
The work of the Motorists' Forum
Members and Governance
Relationship with the Department and Government
Future Improvements to Functions and Services

The findings from interviews and questionnaire responses are summarised below, which presents the value placed on the Motorists' Forum's work by its stakeholders. More detailed questionnaire responses can be found in Appendix G.

The overwhelming majority of interviewees and questionnaire respondents feel that the Motorists' Forum does a good job, it is valued by its customers and stakeholders and praised for the work it does. The Motorists' Forum tackles specific policy aspects that are non-strategic but nonetheless important. The Forum chooses its targets carefully, selecting issues of concern to stakeholders and as defined in an agreed work programme.

Forum Members are dedicated to the work they do and require only a limited resource and small spend on consultancy services, offering good value for money.

The Forum maintains a low profile, chooses not to have a public face and achieves influence on policy through this low key approach.

9.2 Performance of the Motorists' Forum against its Remit

The Forum has concentrated on acting as a consultative body for Government and others rather than trying progress the wider debate or have a public-facing role. It is in this "low profile" way that the members of the Forum have felt that they can offer most value to their customers through seeking to provide quality advice on specific areas of policy. The Motorists' Forum works with a range of Government Departments, including the DfT, DTI and the Home Office, across a breadth of motoring related topics. It takes the approach of trying to agree a work programme with Government Departments where they can influence the Department and bring together a body of people with a breadth of knowledge and expertise. The Chairman has access to ministers and senior officials, when Forum business may be discussed. The Forum also works with non-Government bodies, for example, TfL. The Forum has a good working relationship with its customers.

There is an excellent working relationship between the Chairman of the Motorists' Forum and his counterpart at CfIT. It is this more than anything that ensures the relationship between the two bodies works effectively and that the respective work of each organisation is complementary.

The table below summarises where the advice of the Motorists' Forum has had an influence on policy, a more detailed analysis can be found in Appendix P. This material is based on information provided by the Motorists' Forum.

Specific Topic	Where the advice of the Forum has had an influence on policy
Road Safety Strategy	The Forum provided input into the preparation of the Department's Road Safety Strategy. The Forum was supportive of Government action and endorsed the strategy. The Forum also suggested areas where further action was required. The Forum also played a major role in the preparation of the Home Office's Road Traffic Penalties consultation paper.
Roadside Emission Testing	The majority of the Forum's original recommendations were represented favourably in the revised proposals of the Department, the proposals were now much more motorist friendly
Local Air Quality/Climate Change	Following long and detailed discussions with the Department on the role of the automotive industry with regard to air quality and climate change, there has been a much greater meeting of minds between the Department and industry
Streetworks	The Government now intends to bring in a Traffic Management Bill that incorporates some of the thinking of the Forum
Local Transport Plans	The Forum ensured that LTPs had to consider explicitly the role of the car within integrated transport strategies
Wheelclamping on Private Land	The Forum has constantly raised the need to curb the excesses of wheelclamping on private land. It is pleased to see that the Home Office has now decided to set up a Security Industry Authority that will, inter alia, introduce a licensing system for wheelclampers
Safety Cameras	The Forum believes that their advice played a part in Government deciding that authorities wishing to join the "netting off" scheme should be required to make safety cameras more visible to motorists
London Congestion Charging Scheme	The Forum's discussions with TfL on this matter were directly responsible for ensuring that all disabled parking badge holders are exempted from the London charging scheme
Untaxed/ Uninsured/ Unlicensed Driving	Pressure on Government by the Forum to target its enforcement activities on those who drive untaxed, uninsured or unlicensed has been one influencing factor leading to the Government looking to take action to tackle these problems
Congestion Measurement	The Forum's own assessment showed the measurements to be broadly sound but limited, suggested supplementary indicators are being taken forward by the Department as part of their work
Incident Management	As a result of joint Forum/Department work, a number of proposals have been put forward which should lead to greatly improved management of road traffic incidents
Good Garage Scheme	Government took on board concerns expressed by the Forum to the DTI and now intend to incorporate the essential elements of the Good Garage scheme into an enhanced motor industry code of practice

It is apparent from the table above that there are many topics where the Forum offers advice of a practical nature to Government, consistent with its original remit.

9.3 The continuing need for the Motorists' Forum

Although the Motorists' Forum does not provide advice at the leading edge of policy, the topic areas where advice is provided are important and it is in this area that the Forum has carved out a role for itself. Some of the Forum's work does overlap with that of others (e.g. SMMT has its own technology and engineering department that addresses road safety issues). However, the Forum has an additional credibility since it is not a lobby group, nor does it represent the interests of one sector, therefore where overlap exists this does not seem to be an issue.

The Forum has demonstrated its capacity to do good work, is useful to its sponsoring Department and other Government Departments, provides good value for money and maintains a low profile. Therefore, as long as it remains possible to give the Forum useful work to carry out and the Forum can continue to act as a valued mechanism for getting the message of motorists across then there is good reason to keep this body.

9.4 The Future Organisation of the Motorists' Forum

Based on the findings of this high level review of the Motorists' Forum, we conclude that in the short to medium term the Motorists' Forum should be left to continue to function as it does today. In line with other similar stakeholder groups that report directly to government, the Forum could be made wholly independent of CfIT, it does not have to be linked to them to do useful work. That said, the working relationship between the Forum and CfIT is effective, the Forum does not adversely affect the function of CfIT (if anything there are potential benefits) and the Forum is able to maintain direct senior level contact with Government and Departments through which it can offer advice. Therefore, there is not currently a pressing case for making such a change. This is always something that can be re-visited, if necessary, in the light of changes in future.

With the forthcoming standing down of the current Forum's Chairman from CfIT (where he is vice-chairman) under his current membership arrangements, this does leave a number of unanswered questions around who will be the Motorists' Forum chairman, whether that person is also the vice-chairman of CfIT and how the Forum is represented on CfIT. For the two bodies to continue to function effectively together, these will need to be clarified in a manner that ensures:

The work of the Motorists' Forum always complements that of CfIT; and
A close working relationship is maintained between the Forum and CfIT.

In conclusion, the Motorists' Forum does useful work, operating on the more specific day-to-day issues around policy in a way appreciated by its sponsoring Department and the motoring industry, therefore it should continue for as long as it is worthwhile. Similar to CfIT, a more formal process of annual reviews with the Department should be put in place, to refresh the agenda, check performance and ensure that there continues to be worthwhile areas for the Forum to tackle.

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