Bus Industry

My Lords, before I begin my remarks I too congratulate my noble friend Lord Marland on his maiden speech and on his insightful and eloquent remarks. We should all be suitably honoured that he decided to make his opening remarks in this House on the subject of bus transportation. I have no doubt that he will make constructive and thoughtful contributions to your Lordships' House over the coming years. On behalf of his Front Bench, I wish him the best of luck. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, on securing this debate. Buses are a lifeline to many people. Buses are not just vital now, they are also a key way in which we can tackle congestion and improve the environment in the future. Therefore, it is indeed timely that we are having this debate today, given the announcement the Government made just last month regarding the future of the bus industry. I hope that in the limited time available today, I will be able to tease from the Minister a few more details of how these proposals will work in practice and what they will mean for the wider bus industry—operators and passengers alike. I declare an interest as leader of Essex County Council. We have increased the provision of buses and the use of them rather more than the average council in the past few years. I also agree with the remark made by the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, on the funding from local authorities. No doubt we shall return to that during debates on the Concessionary Bus Travel Bill in the coming weeks. Before I discuss these proposals, I should like to take a moment to remind ourselves exactly where we are on this issue. The Government produced a 10-year plan back in 2000, in which they set themselves the relatively ambitious target of increasing bus journeys by 10 per cent. That target was to be fulfilled by 2010. They also wished to improve the punctuality of services nationally, but against that they recognised the increasing decline of bus usage over many years, increased prosperity and car ownership, as we have heard during the debate, and the increased cost of travel on buses. I am guided also by a National Audit Office report published in December 2005. It highlighted the fact that, on either method, the Government were unlikely to meet their revised targets of increasing bus usage. The NAO reported on the problems of the administrative costs of procuring bus services, commenting that, "““if authorities currently tendering for individual routes or small packages of routes adopted a more strategic approach ... they could achieve ... savings””." The Government recognised that that target was unattainable and it has been revised twice since 2000. We now have a combined target of increasing bus and light rail usage by 12 per cent and of increasing growth in every region. Clearly, something had to give. I am pleased that the new proposals published last month by the Government have at least shown that they are willing to bite the bullet, admit that the Government are failing in this area and bring forward some fresh thinking. On the whole, we on these Benches give the proposals a guarded welcome. As ever, the devil will be in the detail. Indeed, I hope that the proposals do not herald a return to the days before 1986, as I think was said from all sides of the House. Indeed, the previous Secretary of State said the same in another place. I hope the present incumbent also shares those views. However, we have some reservations about the proposals, particularly any moves to make quality contracts easier to achieve, as we believe a partnership approach is the better way to serve our passengers in the long term. I am pleased that the Government recognised in the past the value of good partnership between local authorities and bus operators. We welcome the fact that there will still be strict tests and that the legitimate interests of bus operators will be safeguarded before any scheme can be approved. On the Government's proposals for a new punctuality regime, it is important that bus operators and, for the first time, local authorities are held to account if passengers' services are failing. I have no problem with this. We in local government have a duty to provide the very best local services that we can. Serving our customers must be the watchword in all our future decisions. On the review of the bus service operators’ grant arrangements, it is again right that the Government look to ensure the best use of public funds. We will have several debates on these issues in the next month or two. We look forward to the Government introducing legislation. Like the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, I would like to know what the Government’s timetable is. I look forward to participating in the debates and seeing how we can together improve bus provision in this country. I welcome today’s debate.