Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the availability of local authority-provided community transport schemes.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Government believes that community transport operators provide vital services which both encourage growth and reduce isolation by linking people with their communities.

Local transport authorities (LTAs) understand their communities best and so it is for them to determine their local community's needs. They have a power to fund services which they deem to be socially necessary.

To benefit from the transformational funding in England’s National Bus Strategy, LTAs are expected to continue working together with operators towards agreeing ambitious Bus Services Improvement Plans (BSIPs) by 31 October. The Government expects LTAs to work closely and in a spirit of co-operation with community transport bodies to ensure that BSIPs meet the needs of local communities.

£43 million of Bus Service Operators Grant is committed to LTAs annually so that they can subsidise socially necessary bus services, which includes community transport.