Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with any bus services franchising authorities which are not a mayoral combined authority on the use of the Bus Services franchising powers.

The Department has recently published guidance on bus franchising which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bus-services-act-2017-bus-franchising-creation

The Act provides automatic access to franchising powers to mayoral combined authorities. The criteria the Secretary of State will use to determine whether to grant consent to non-mayoral combined authorities will focus on whether the authority in question has clear and locally supported aspirations which will benefit passengers and a sensible plan in place, as well as the right capabilities to make franchising a success.

The Secretary of State meets local authorities, including non-mayoral authorities, on a regular basis. We do not comment on the content of individual meetings.