Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the incidence of assaults on bus drivers; and what recent discussions she has had with (a) operators, (b) trade unions and (c) local transport authorities on this matter.

The Government is committed to ensuring the safety of bus drivers and is taking steps to reduce the incidence of assaults.

The Bus Services (No.2) Bill includes measures setting requirements for mandatory training for staff including drivers and those who deal directly with the travelling public or with issues related to the travelling public. This training will be on preventing and/or responding to incidents of violence against women and girls as well as anti-social behaviour incidents that potentially affect the personal safety of any passenger, member of the public, or staff. This measure will also extend requirements for relevant bus staff to undertake training relating to disabled passengers. The Department engages regularly with bus operators, trade unions and Local Transport Authorities across the full range of measures contained in the Bill. This will continue as the guidance around this training is developed.

The Bill also provides Local Transport Authorities with the power to create byelaws and deploy officers who can deal with low level anti-social behaviour and fare evasion on the bus network. Officers will have the power to issue fines, ask people to leave the vehicle, bus station or shelter and, if necessary, to remove them if they refuse to do so.