Bus Services

Lord Bishop of Leeds Excerpts

Tuesday 4th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I pay tribute to my noble friend for his long-standing interest in this area. I am pleased to be able to say that the consultation into the provision of audio and visual services, which we undertook in the summer of 2018, will report soon. We will also set out the next steps for making the regulations and publishing the guidance that will make sure that these audio and visual services are available across the country.

[The Lord Bishop of Leeds]

My Lords, can the Minister expand on what she said about rural access? There is no point trying to encourage people to use buses where there are none. In parts of my diocese in the north of Yorkshire, to suggest that there may be increased funding or increased conversations does not change the fact that many people are isolated. Buses and transport need to be part of a holistic, integrated rural strategy that sees the various matters interconnected.

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I completely agree with the right reverend Prelate when he talks about transport being integrated. So often we think about one particular sort of transport system and do not think about how it integrates into the rest of the community. Turning back to his point about rural communities, it is a big challenge where you have isolated communities and it is not commercially viable to operate regular services into them. However, the Government have allocated £43 million from the Bus Services Operators Grant to rural local authorities. A particularly interesting project is the total transport pilot. It looks at rural communities that often have coaches, which might serve schools or take people to non-emergency doctors’ appointments, to see how we might also use them to help people to get around. These pilots are coming to an end and we will report on them soon.

HS2: Budget and Costs

Lord Bishop of Leeds Excerpts

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, I am sure that the incoming chair will absolutely look at the details of the project very closely. As I said, HS2 is preparing a full business case, which will be the robust and comprehensive assessment of the scheme. That will inform the next phase of the project, when we assess whether it is correct to continue.

[The Lord Bishop of Leeds]

My Lords, would the Minister agree that there is a problem if you can get up north 20 minutes quicker but you cannot get anywhere once you get there, and that any business case will have to take on board massive infrastructure improvements in the north of England?

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, I very much agree. Of course HS2 will benefit the north, but we are also looking at the connectivity of rail across the north and working closely with Transport for the North to deliver that.

Brexit: Tourism

Lord Bishop of Leeds Excerpts

Monday 20th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

I am afraid I am not able to give that commitment to the noble Lord today. How sectors are discussed will of course be a matter for the negotiations, but of course we recognise that traditionally aviation agreements have been negotiated separately. For our part, we are ready to move on with the negotiations.

[The Lord Bishop of Leeds]

My Lords, if it is not possible to give that commitment now, is it possible to give an idea of a timeline as to when that commitment can be made, when the aim might become a reality?

[Baroness Sugg]

As I said previously, we are ready to move on with these negotiations and hope to do so shortly.