South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (Transfer of Functions) Order 2023
(1 year, 11 months ago)
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Baroness Vere of Norbiton
That the Grand Committee do consider the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (Transfer of Functions) Order 2023.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport (Baroness Vere of Norbiton) (Con)
My Lords, this draft order was laid before Parliament on 8 November. It is solely concerned with the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, and has been laid at the original request of the former Mayor of South Yorkshire, Dan Jarvis MP, with the full support of the current Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard.
The order is being made under Section 85 of the Transport Act 1985, which allows the Secretary of State for Transport to make provisions for the dissolution of PTEs and the transfer of their functions, property, rights and liabilities to the relevant integrated transport area. This order will dissolve the South Yorkshire PTE and transfer its functions, property, rights and liabilities to the South Yorkshire MCA.
PTEs are delivery bodies responsible for implementing the strategic transport plans in their area. They are responsible for securing the provision of local public transport across their area as they consider appropriate, including commissioning socially necessary bus services and administering travel concession schemes. PTEs have existed in many of our largest city regions for many years, predating combined authorities, which are now responsible for transport planning in their areas.
The South Yorkshire PTE was established by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Area (Establishment of Executive) Order 1973 and was variously accountable to the metropolitan county council, the passenger transport authority and the integrated transport authority in South Yorkshire until the South Yorkshire integrated transport authority was dissolved and its functions transferred to the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority by the Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield Combined Authority Order 2014. As well as its responsibilities in relation to buses, the South Yorkshire PTE also owns Supertram in Sheffield and is responsible for the arrangements for its operation.
The South Yorkshire MCA’s 2019 review of bus services in its area, chaired by Clive Betts MP, recommended among other things that the PTE cease to exist as a separate organisation and instead become part of the combined authority. The review concluded that a separate arm’s-length transport authority was no longer the right model and that a single entity responsible for bus transport strategy and delivery in South Yorkshire would provide a clearer focus on passenger needs and user-centred transport design and delivery.
As the review notes, this is already the case in other city regions—for example, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire—while other city regions, including Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City region, have chosen to retain their PTEs as executive bodies of their combined authorities. The Government recognise that a single entity may support the alignment of transport priorities with economic growth and decarbonisation objectives. However, providing that there are clear lines of accountability and sound governance in place, it is right that combined authorities determine which arrangements are best for their area. In this case, South Yorkshire has also identified scope for efficiency savings that could be reinvested in the local bus network.
Following the bus review, the then Mayor of South Yorkshire asked the Department for Transport to take the necessary steps to transfer the functions of the PTE to the combined authority. The Secretary of State agreed to do so and my officials have worked closely with the mayor’s team to bring forward this order. The order will make the MCA responsible for planning, delivering and managing local public transport services, bringing these functions under a single roof.
This order will make a straightforward and sensible amendment to the administration of local transport services in South Yorkshire at the request of the mayor. It is important that the Government deliver on devolution, supporting local authorities in providing services more efficiently for the people in their area. I beg to move.
Lord Scriven (LD)
My Lords, I declare an interest as a long-suffering passenger in South Yorkshire. I live in Sheffield, and I am well aware of the area and of the request of the former mayor and the current mayor, Oliver Coppard, for this change. However, in South Yorkshire we are bit perplexed, not because we are not bright people but because since August, as the Minister said, the functions of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive have moved to the mayoral combined authority.
South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive’s website still exists. Its last post was on 31 August. It states:
“To better reflect who we are, the communities we serve and the way we work we changed our name on 17 September 2021 from ‘South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive’ (SYPTE) to ‘South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’ (SYMCA).
SYPTE will continue to exist and retain the responsibilities of the local transport authority until the legal integration of SYPTE and SYMCA is complete”.
which is what this statutory instrument does. However, there is no reference on the mayoral combined authority’s website to its function separate from the mayoral authority. There is no way that a member of the public can work out what is happening and there does not seem to be any oversight of the functions of the passenger transport executive. It seems from a lay person’s perspective—and from my perspective, and I used to lead a city in South Yorkshire—that by default this has just happened and there is no dividing line. What assurance does the department have that there has been separation until this order goes through and that it is still there? How has the department checked that separation and that the passenger transport executive is independent?
More important for those of us living in South Yorkshire is whether this is an administrative change. We want to see an impact on our buses and trains, not just the deckchairs on the “Titanic” being shuffled as our public transport sinks. Will the Minister say exactly what difference the order will make, and what powers that do not currently exist in South Yorkshire will be brought to bear that will mean that our bus services will be better—or is it just that the existing powers are being shifted to somebody else and therefore the mayor is unable to get anything extra that the passenger transport executive could not get? That is the key issue. Administration is good, but administration for a purpose is the most important thing. Will the Minister explain to the people of South Yorkshire and to the Committee why this administrative change will have an effect on the bus and train services in South Yorkshire?
For example, 103 TransPennine Express trains were cancelled yesterday—a record for the north of England, many affecting people in South Yorkshire. Will these changes have any effect on the mayor’s ability to hold TransPennine Express to account? Will this new statutory instrument mean that the mayor will be able to do things that the passenger transport executive was not able to do to help with our buses and trains in South Yorkshire?
The reason why I ask this is really important. Mayor Coppard has a very good way of blaming others for the poor state of buses and trains. To some degree he has a point, but if he asks for these powers, what is it that he will be able to do that people in South Yorkshire—either democratically elected councillors who are on the passenger transport executive or the leaders of the council who make up the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority with the mayor—are unable to do at present? I look forward to answers from the Minister, because an administrative change is welcome if there is an effect on our buses and trains but not if it is just a shuffling of administrative posts back in South Yorkshire.
Lord Tunnicliffe (Lab)
My Lords, I welcome this order to merge the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive into the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. This step should lead to more effective and more accountable decision-making, but it is disappointing that it has taken this long for the order to be implemented. I begin by asking the Minister to confirm that the department is engaging with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and its constituent local authorities to ensure there are no further delays.
Powers and reform must be matched with investment, and it is clear that the Government lack ambition for the future of South Yorkshire’s transport network. Today, Ministers still spend three times per head more in London than in Yorkshire and the Humber. If the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority is to deliver a truly trans- formative agenda, then the Government must provide real support. I hope the Minister will commit to that.
Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)
My Lords, I am grateful to both noble Lords for their contributions to this short debate. I hope I was able to warn the noble Lord, Lord Scriven, in my opening remarks that this is an administrative change: it is nothing more exciting than that, but it makes sure that the accountability, responsibilities and governance are clear. It also saves the MCA having both the PTE and the MCA structure, so there will be some small savings. We were asked for this, and it is not something that we would necessarily have required of all MCAs, because MCAs should be able to choose how they administrate their local transport powers. There are no changes to the powers that the mayor will have, although colleagues in DLUHC are looking at taking forward further devolution for places in due course.
Lord Scriven (LD)
The Minister has a difficult job in defending this in terms of accountability. People understood the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, and councils were accountable at a local level for being on it. My point is that, since the transfer of the passenger transport executive to the mayoral authority, all that the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive did has been lost in the myriad of what the mayoral authority does. The public are finding it harder than before to hold anyone to account for what is going on. All this does is formalise exactly the hybrid situation that has been in place since early 2021. As for accountability, if it continues as it has done since the partial incorporation, it does not make the accountability easier; it actually makes it harder.
Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)
I beg to differ with the noble Lord on this matter. The people of the constituent local authorities can of course take it up with Mayor Coppard, as the elected mayor. The local authorities that are the constituent parts of the combined authority can also take it up with that elected mayor. All this is doing is trying to take out some of what Mayor Coppard must believe to be unnecessary administration between him and his team and the operation of effective local transport systems. I literally have no further lines on that. If the noble Lord has a problem about establishing accountability, I reassure him that Mayor Coppard is accountable and he should of course raise those issues with him.
I hope the noble Lord knows—I am sure he does—that heavy rail services do not operate under these arrangements but, of course, we look to locally elected mayors to engage very robustly with train service operators in their area. It is the case that light rail services will fall under the remit of the local transport plans that Mayor Coppard will no doubt take forward for the benefit of local people.
On the questions raised by the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, I suppose one could say that there has been a short delay in putting this administrative order in place. We got to it as soon as we could, but there is pressure on parliamentary time at the moment. I believe that the delay was not excessive and throughout all that time we have had a strong relationship with the local mayor and his team. Indeed, from a transport perspective we have a good relationship with all the local mayors. When I covered that portfolio, I would frequently have conversations with them to hear their concerns and listen to what they wanted as investments.
It is worth touching on some of the investments that we have made and are making in South Yorkshire. South Yorkshire has received £570 million from the city region sustainable transport settlement, which is just part of the £5.7 billion that is going to eight mayoral combined authorities. The South Yorkshire amount includes just over £100 million for the renewal of the Supertram in Sheffield. Prior to that, the area received £150 million as part of the transforming cities fund. The MCA has been awarded £8.3 million in ZEBRA funding to fund zero-emission buses. In addition, from the local growth fund there was £42.3 million towards the Lower Don Valley scheme in Rotherham. There was also a successful bid in round 1 of the Restoring your Railway Fund.
We always look to the mayors of our large cities and city regions to put forward investment ideas, and are grateful that they have done so. The city region sustainable transport settlement schemes are now, I think, all finalised. It is now a question of getting them delivered, and I very much look forward to seeing some of those projects come to fruition to improve transport, not only in South Yorkshire but in all the mayoral combined authority areas that have been the beneficiaries of our investment.