Bus Services

Iain Wright Excerpts

Thursday 1st December 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bayley. It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard), who, like me, represents a coastal town.

Before I begin my comments, may I pay tribute to Mr Thomas Bunce, who was a resident of Burbank in my constituency? He worked hard to secure adequate bus provision—particularly the 516 service—for the community. Sadly, he died suddenly in September after a journalist had been to see him to discuss bus services. Hartlepool and Burbank are poorer for Mr Bunce’s passing. I hope the House will join me in paying tribute to him and extending our gratitude and sympathy to his family. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]

I am grateful for this opportunity to debate an important issue that is important to my constituency, and I thank the Chair of the Transport Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman), and her Committee for raising this topic, and for encouraging members of the public who are affected by cuts to services to contribute to the inquiry. After seven years in the House, I cannot think of another Select Committee inquiry in which the Chair and members of the Committee actively encouraged members of the public to contribute to its findings. It is a fantastic model that we should use in future in the House.

Hartlepool has one of the worst bus services anywhere in the country—a situation that has worsened as a result of the comprehensive spending review. Due to the worst local government financial settlement for a generation, the local authority has withdrawn all public subsidy to private bus operators. In March, I raised the issue of bus services in Hartlepool on the Floor of the House through a petition of residents, and I encouraged Hartlepool residents to get in touch with the inquiry and express their feelings. Together with the Committee’s active encouragement of public participation, it meant that—as usual—Hartlepudlians did not disappoint. The Committee’s report features heavily the opinions of Hartlepool residents on the loss of their bus services; pages 12 and 13 contain quotes from nine people, five of whom are my constituents. Their views have had a big impact on the Committee and on the shadow spokesman, my hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furness (John Woodcock), with whom I have discussed this issue.

Mrs Olly, 80 years old, stated:

“I appreciate that spending reviews were needed and accept a reduced service but to discontinue the service altogether is appalling.”

Mrs Robinson said:

“I am a carer for my 85 year old father who has just undergone an operation for bowel cancer and also has heart problems. I used to get the 516 bus service (this has now been completely withdrawn). It now costs me £11 per day by taxi so am only visiting my father three days a week which is leaving him alone four days in each week.”

Miss Raw declared:

“The bus service from Elwick to Hartlepool has been withdrawn leaving the village completely cut off from Hartlepool. I do not drive and therefore am finding it very difficult to shop for essentials, visit doctors, dentists, opticians, banks, hospital visits etc. Also I no longer visit friends, go to the theatre, or cinema, especially in the evening. In fact we are completely isolated.”

Finally, Mrs Power stated:

“Since the removal of the bus service my daughter now has no way of getting to and from college. Is she surely not entitled to the education she deserves? My daughter works very hard and gets excellent grades and I feel appalled that her future education is being jeopardised in this way!”

On publication of the report, my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside kindly gave an interview to my local paper, the Hartlepool Mail:

“We received a lot of information from people in Hartlepool which demonstrated the problems caused by the withdrawal of local bus services…The information was very dramatic, which showed the impact it had… Hopefully this will make the Government think again about planned cuts… I would like to thank the people of Hartlepool who gave us the information.”

I echo that thanks.

As I said, Hartlepool has a poor bus service. That results from a number of factors, not least, as the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys pointed out, that in many areas—and in my area in particular—the market for bus services does not operate effectively. Passengers do not have the choice that a market should provide, and they are forced to endure poor and inadequate provision from a monopolistic provider—Stagecoach. That company’s disdain for passengers was demonstrated a few weeks ago when, with Councillor Allan Barclay, I met about 40 residents from Ryehill Gardens. They are mostly elderly, cannot afford taxis and are effectively isolated as a result of changes to and withdrawals of bus provision. They do not want an extra bus service; they want the number 3 service to be diverted—perhaps just once or twice a day—so that it goes into town and comes back via Ryehill Gardens, allowing them to travel to and from town, get groceries, attend appointments or meet friends. On average, that diversion would add about seven minutes twice a day to the existing bus service. Stagecoach rejected that suggestion and—perhaps even worse—it did not give residents the courtesy of a meeting to explain its decision. Members will agree that that is not good enough, and it demonstrates all too vividly the contempt—that is not too strong a word—shown by Stagecoach, and why people in England need a complete change in the provision and regulation of bus services.

The Committee reported on bus services after the comprehensive spending review, but in the week of the autumn statement perhaps we should bring it forward and talk about future financial arrangements. The report stated:

“The combination of the reduction in local authorities’ revenue expenditure and changes to the Department for Transport’s concessionary fares reimbursement guidance in 2011-12, with the 20% reduction in Bus Service Operators’ Grant (BSOG) due to be implemented in 2012-13, has created the greatest financial challenge for the English bus industry for a generation. The combined impact of these funding changes will, in some parts of the country—”

Hartlepool, for example—

“have a disproportionately adverse impact on the provision of local bus services and the level of bus fares.”

That is one of the report’s central paragraphs.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside said, local government was hit hard in the CSR. Revenue expenditure will be cut by 28% over four years, with central Government assistance going from about £38.5 billion in 2010-11 to £22.9 billion in 2014-15. As a result of this week’s autumn statement, however, it will get a lot worse. This week, the Chancellor confirmed that his deficit reduction targets will not be met in this Parliament, and that he will have to extend them over a further two years. That will mean more pain over a longer period, and it will be concentrated not on capital expenditure but current spending. The autumn statement confirmed that current spending will be cut by an additional £910 million in 2012-13, £1.175 billion in 2013-14, and £1.735 billion in 2014-15. After this Parliament, the figures become unsustainable and economically dangerous—£8 billion and £15 billion in 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively.

Local government and transport will bear the brunt of many of those changes, and I predict that the cut to BSOG in 2012-13 will be much worse than the 20% predicted. Will the Minister indicate how he intends to combat what the Chancellor laid out in the autumn statement, and say how he expects England to have a functioning bus transport service, given the astonishing budget cuts currently planned that are only going to get worse?

As the Committee pointed out, bus passengers are facing their biggest challenge since the second world war. On behalf of my constituents, I thank the Committee for its work in highlighting the issue and putting pressure on the Government. As the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys said, the current model in which monopolistic bus providers are able to cherry-pick services and make excessive profits cannot be sustained, especially at the expense of important social routes, and cuts to Government budgets tip that model over the edge. Communities such as mine would welcome and encourage a co-ordinated and sufficiently funded public transport service, but that can happen only if a strong Transport Minister backs this important issue in Whitehall against the Chancellor, and takes steps to remove power from monopolistic providers, thereby re-regulating bus provision in England.

--- Later in debate ---

[Norman Baker]

What I am saying—I hope that I have said it fairly—is that it is a challenging position for local authorities. They have received reductions in funding, which has meant difficult decisions for them, and I can understand why some of them have looked to their bus services. However, within the framework in which they operate, some have managed to protect their services, and, as in the case of Bedford, even enhance them. Others have made limited cuts. Others have taken an axe to services. Those who live in Hartlepool and elsewhere need to ask their councils why they have taken an axe to services when other councils have not.

[Mr Wright]

If the Minister will let me continue with my rant, that Pontius Pilate approach to decision making will not wash if he wants to be a champion of local bus services. Will he comment on the second part of my remarks, which concerned future financial arrangements and possible cuts to bus services as a result of the announcements in the autumn statement?

[Norman Baker]

I will. I always try to respond to all points made by hon. Members, as those who have heard me respond to debates will know. I will deal with those points, but first I will deal with the points that the hon. Gentleman made during his speech. He said—I think that I am quoting him accurately—that we need a complete change in how buses are regulated. I point out that at the moment, the regulation of buses is a consequence not just of deregulation in 1996 but of 13 years of his Government between 1997 and 2010. The record will show that when the Local Transport Bill was before the Commons and I was on the Committee considering it, I wanted to go much further in the direction that he is now advocating than did the party of which he is a member in 2008.

[Mr Wright]

Will the Minister give way on that point?

[Norman Baker]

I will, but I need to make progress.

[Mr Wright]

The Minister has had 18 months in office. He has just set out his approach. When will he enact it?

[Norman Baker]

I will not give way again, as I am trying to answer the hon. Gentleman’s points, and he is anticipating me all the time. The fact is that we now have a regulatory framework that his Government put in place in the Local Transport Act, and the record will show that it would have gone more in the direction that the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness wanted if his Government had accepted the amendments that I tabled at the time.

Our position has been set out clearly. The Government await the results of the Competition Commission’s inquiry. It would be premature to make judgments about the landscape of the bus market until it has reported. We will read the Competition Commission report carefully, consider the arrangements for the bus service operators grant at the same time and in parallel and make it clear where we are going as soon as we have had a chance to digest the final report. That is the responsible course of action, given where the Competition Commission is at present.