Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has been made of the potential merits of standardising free travel arrangements for people over 60 across England.

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme is a scheme that provides free off-peak bus travel for those of pensionable age (currently 66) in England. Expenditure on the scheme was around £896m in 2021/22. Local Authorities are already able to provide free travel for the over 60s at their own discretion, funded by local resources. We receive a number of requests to expand the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme and need to carefully consider the financial impact of expanding the scheme on the public purse.

In the 2021 National Bus Strategy we committed to a review of a number of aspects of concessionary travel, including the appeals process, reimbursement guidance and the reimbursement calculator and we plan to undertake this work in 2023.

For rail travel, the Senior Railcard is available for the over 60s, offering one third off a wide range of tickets.