Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords]

Debate between Heidi Alexander and Rachel Taylor

2nd reading
Monday 2nd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

I can reassure the hon. Lady that we have taken those issues into account in our allocation of this year’s funding.

Let me now explain our approach. Funding, even record funding, without reform means throwing good money after bad, and that brings me to the Bill. Our reforms are not ideological. Regardless of what some may say, this is not about public ownership versus private enterprise. It is about enabling more people to use buses, about ensuring that those services are safer, more reliable and more accessible, and about harnessing the best of devolution.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for introducing the Bill. Sarah, one of my constituents, is here today. Her work with the National Federation of the Blind of the UK and its street access campaign has demonstrated the difficulty that blind and partially sighted people experience in accessing buses. They cannot make the choice that others make to pass their driving tests as soon as they reach the age of 17 so that they can travel to their local colleges, schools or hospital appointments. I want to draw attention to that fantastic campaign, and to ask for the Bill to make clear to local authorities that they must work to ensure that all buses are accessible—not just to people with sight impairments but to those who need to access a bus in a wheelchair, like my friends who cannot travel together and are often whizzed past by the driver, and have to wait longer than the rest of us.

[Heidi Alexander]

I thank my hon. Friend for making that point so powerfully. I can reassure her that the Bill will introduce a duty for local transport authorities to consult disabled passengers and disability organisations before initiating a franchise scheme. It will standardise the current disability training requirements that operators will need to fulfil, and it will give the Government new powers to require operators to record data on that training. I think that, taken together, those measures should represent a positive improvement in the way in which the bus network is designed to ensure that everyone can use it.

As I was saying, the Bill was designed to harness the best of devolution. That means transferring power away from central Government and operators, and towards local leaders—those who know their areas best—and giving them the tools to deliver buses on which communities can rely. Whether we are talking about the franchising that has worked so well in London or Jersey, about the local authority bus companies that have thrived in Nottingham and Reading or about the excellent examples of enhanced partnerships in Brighton and Norfolk, it is clear to me that one size does not fit all. The Bill will expand the options available to local authorities so that each area has the bus service that is right for it, while also safeguarding the needs of passengers, particularly the most vulnerable.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Heidi Alexander and Rachel Taylor

Thursday 27th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

Let us be clear: the cost of those national rolling strikes over two years was £850 million in lost revenue. I am sorry, but I am not going to take any lessons from the shadow Secretary of State on industrial relations on the railway.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

T2. I have launched a petition in my constituency asking Warwickshire county council to take our buses back under public control. Almost 30% of buses do not run on time, and my constituents are sick and tired of being stranded if they do not have a car. Does the Minister agree that Warwickshire county council must do the right thing and improve the dismal service that my constituents are currently stuck with?

Disruption at Heathrow

Debate between Heidi Alexander and Rachel Taylor

Monday 24th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

I am grateful for that question. I must admit that it is not a subject I have, to date, discussed with the chief executive of Heathrow, but I am happy to follow it up for the hon. Gentleman and come back to him.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

I thank the Secretary of State for all her hard work on this matter over the weekend. Can she reassure my constituents that our energy resilience remains high, and that the holidays they have saved long and hard for will not be disrupted by similar incidents at regional airports up and down the country? Will she also look into the particular impact that such outages have on disabled passengers?

[Heidi Alexander]

I will look at the specific issue my hon. Friend raises about disabled passengers, but I would like to reassure her and her constituents that I am confident that our airports and critical national infrastructure are resilient. I recognise that significant disruption was caused on this occasion. The NESO review will tell us if there are any other actions we need to take, but I am confident about our current arrangements.