Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Voluntary Partnerships have been set up with local authorities since the Bus Services Act 2017 came into force.

Local authorities and bus operators are not required to inform the Department when they establish individual statutory or voluntary partnerships.

Data for the Department’s Annual Bus Statistics 2017/18 show that 20% of local bus operators in England were part of at least one bus partnership scheme (operators can be involved in more than one).

The statistics also show that 7% of local bus operators in England were involved in at least one statutory bus partnership scheme with 16% involved in at least one voluntary scheme (operators can be involved in more than one scheme e.g. one statutory and one voluntary).