Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his plans are for the future of the community transport permit system.

The Government is currently consulting on the issue and use of the Transport Act’s 1985 s19 and s22 permits and has no plans to end the current permit system. The Government’s commitment to supporting the sector remains as strong as ever.

Within the existing legal framework, the Department wants as many community transport providers as possible to continue to operate, and retain, service provision for vulnerable community transport passengers.

While it remains a member of the European Union, the UK is under a legal obligation to obey EU law. Although the Department cannot guarantee that operators will not be affected, we are interpreting the exemptions in the EU Regulation 1071/2009 as widely as legally possible to minimise the scale of any impacts on operators. Any impacts on individual operators will depend on their specific circumstances and the decisions that they take to comply with the Regulation.

The consultation is also seeking examples of operating models that community transport operators may be able to use to mitigate the Regulation’s impact. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is taking a proportionate approach to enforcement as operators adjust. The Department is also making available £250,000 to support community transport organisations, and this may be used to assist drivers.

I met the Chief Executive of the Community Transport Association UK IN September 2017 to discuss Regulation 1071/2009 and its potential effect on the community transport sector, have spoken to him since and expect to meet with him again shortly. Officials continue to liaise with the CTA regularly, and with the Directors of CTA Wales and CTA Scotland who attended the Department’s recent consultation events. Departmental officials also regularly liaise with their Welsh Government counterparts, and they worked together to hold a consultation event on 20 April in Treforest.