Oral Answers to Questions
Ellie Chowns Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Mike Kane
Services from participating operators that serve schools are open to members of the public and run all year round and will be eligible for inclusion in the scheme. The current fare cap does not allow for the inclusion of closed school services at the moment—that is for logistic reasons, I understand.
Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)
In the statement on bus services on Monday, I asked the Secretary of State about extending concessionary travel to children and young people. Her response was to suggest that MPs should talk to our individual local authorities about this, but that is not the approach that we take to concessionary travel for pensioners. I have just been contacted by somebody aged over 16 who cannot afford to go to college because it would cost £1,500 a year, and her family just cannot afford that. Is it not the case that concessionary bus travel for children and young people should be extended on a national basis, rather than having this postcode lottery?
Mike Kane
As a former schoolteacher, I know how important getting children to education is, and those bus services provide vital lines. That is why we have put £1 billion into our bus services network. I suggest that local services, such as mine in the Bee Network in Greater Manchester, have used their resource to improve access to education for young people.
Bus Funding
Ellie Chowns Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Louise Haigh
May I begin by saying what an absolute joy it is to thank my hon. Friend the Labour MP for Welwyn Hatfield? He is absolutely right; I can confirm that the better buses Bill will extend powers to every local authority that wants to avail itself of franchising. Because we are well aware that not every transport authority in the country is in either London or Greater Manchester, the Department stands ready to work with those in more rural areas and with different types of transport authority, and to look at different models to give them the flexibility that will enable them to build a network that works for their communities.
Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)
I welcome the statement, and I particularly welcome the change in funding mechanisms—the move away from hoop-jumping, jam-jar funding to something that takes proper account of local needs; I hope very much that it will take proper account of rurality. However, I want to ask about another issue. Pensioners get free bus travel but children do not. In my rural constituency, the cost to people who do not fit the very narrow definition of those eligible for free bus travel is £1,000 a year. Is it not time to extend concessionary bus travel to children?
Louise Haigh
The hon. Lady is right, and that is one of the reasons why, throughout next year, we will be looking at the bus fare cap and considering whether we can extend a concession of some kind to young people. The point of the BSIP funding is that it can be used to deliver concessionary schemes as well. The hon. Lady should encourage her local authority to think about whether some of the revenue funding that has been allocated can be delivered for younger people.
Rural Bus Services
Ellie Chowns Excerpts(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Simon Lightwood
I will certainly explore that with the hon. Member. Obviously it is a decision for the commercial operator whether to continue that service, but I am happy to explore that with him outside today’s debate. I will crack on now, because I have limited time.
For too long bus users have been subjected to a postcode lottery when it comes to the quality of their services. That is not just an inconvenience but a barrier to opportunity and growth. Our plan aims to end that disparity and ensure that everyone, regardless of where they live, has access to dependable public transport.
Ellie Chowns
The inequality in funding between rural and urban bus services that the hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke) highlighted is of enormous concern to my constituents in North Herefordshire. Rural bus services need more support per head than urban ones; they are less commercially viable. Will the Minister commit to reversing that inequality?
Simon Lightwood
I thank the hon. Member for her intervention. We are committed to simplifying the plethora of different funding pots that are available for buses. We hope to deliver more long-term funding for local authorities and devolve to them the power to decide where the money is spent.
The Government have set out an ambitious action plan to deliver better buses, grow passenger numbers and drive opportunity to underserved regions. A core part of that plan was announced in the King’s Speech: the passing of a buses Bill. We are introducing the Bill in this Session because we want to see change as quickly as possible. On Monday, we announced a package of franchising measures to support local leaders to deliver better services for passengers in advance of the buses Bill. The first measure is the publication of a consultation document, which will gather views on proposed updates to the bus franchising guidance. The second measure was the laying of a statutory instrument that will open up bus franchising to all local transport authorities and reduce barriers. Later in the Session, we will introduce the Bill, which will be designed to put power back in the hands of local leaders right across England and ensure that networks meet the needs of people who rely on them, including in rural communities.
Simon Lightwood
As I said, it is important that local leaders get to decide—that they take back control of bus services, use the funding that is devolved to them and make informed decisions in their local areas.
We want to learn from the experiences and build on the successes, and I look forward to announcing more information on the buses Bill and the Government’s plans for bus funding in due course.
Dame Siobhain McDonagh (in the Chair)
Order. The hon. Member needs to sit down. This issue is clearly of much concern in many constituencies across the country. It could be appropriate for a group of Members to get together and submit an application for a 60 or 90-minute debate in Westminster Hall, which would give Members the opportunity to make their cases and the Minister enough time to respond to their concerns. I am not formally requiring that of anybody, but I suggest that it might be a useful mechanism.
Question put and agreed to.