Holyrood and Westminster clash over tragedy law

The UK and Scottish Governments are at loggerheads over plans to scrap a law brought in following a school trip tragedy.

The Coalition wants to abolish legislation governing outdoor activity centres introduced after the Lyme Bay canoeing accident 21 years ago in which four teenagers died. They say it is a “burden on business” that adds little to the safety of young people.

However they can’t undo the law without the agreement of the Scottish administration and ministers north of the border won’t agree.

The red tape row is another sign of tension between the administrations in London and Edinburgh ahead of this year’s independence referendum.

The man who piloted the legislation through parliament back in the 1990s has welcomed the SNP stance.

Lyme Bay, on the south coast of England, was in David Jamieson’s constituency when he was a Labour MP.

He said: “It’s jolly good if the SNP can block this piece of stupidity. The parents, teachers, and companies that provide outdoor activities all want it to stay, this is being driven by blind right wing ideology.”

A series of errors by the activity centre, including using young and inexperienced staff saw the Southway Community College school trip in 1993 turn to tragedy.

The canoes the pupils were using were swept out to sea and sank leaving four youngsters dead.

Jamieson’s backbench bill regulating activity centres and setting up the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) to enforce standards was passed in 1995 with the backing of the parents affected by the tragedy.

However one of the first acts of the Coalition government was to set up the Red Tape Challenge aimed at scrapping unnecessary legislation and a report by Lord Young recommended scrapping the ALAA.

Despite opposition from industry bodies he called for a voluntary code of conduct similar to that in place before the incident.

At the time, the mother of one of the dead teenagers said she was “appalled” by the move.

“We worked so hard, you can’t imagine what it was like for us trying to get this through,” said Carolyn Barnard, whose daughter Claire Langley died along with Dean Sayer, Simon Dunne and Rachel Walker in the tragedy.

“For someone to say it is putting a strain on resources, what sort of price does he want to put on a child’s head?”

However the Scottish Government has blocked the proposal, meaning the government has been forced to park their plans.

It’s understood that because the legislation covered the whole of the UK and was passed before the advent of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 it needs Holyrood agreement before it can be repealed.

Scottish Sport Minister Shona Robison said: “We want to retain a statutory licensing scheme for adventure activities for young people.”