Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes in the level of bus services on (a) economic inequality and (b) old people.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department considers the needs of all transport users when making policy decisions and recognises how important local bus services are to keeping people and communities connected. The Government has provided unprecedented levels of funding in recent years to support and improve bus services, having announced more than £4.5 billion since 2020. This includes the £300 million we are currently providing to local authorities and bus operators to support and improve bus services until April 2025.
In addition, the Department also makes nearly £260 million available every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant to help run services that might otherwise be unprofitable and could lead to cancellation. The Government also supports council spending of around £1 billion annually to provide free off-peak bus travel in England to those who have reached the state pension age and those with eligible disabilities. This ensures they can access vital services, stay active and avoid isolation. Furthermore, the Department is providing nearly £600 million of funding to cap single bus fares in England outside London at £2 until the end of 2024.
The Government is also investing significantly to drive improvements to bus services, including over £2 billion to help local authorities to deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans.
In 2022 the Department commissioned a three-year process, impact and value for money evaluation of Local Transport Authorities who have received funding from the Department. This work will report on any variations in impacts by different age groups using a range of methods including survey findings and bus patronage data where available. An interim report is expected to be published in 2024 with a final report due in 2025.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will set a deadline for all buses to be electrified.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the National Bus Strategy, Government committed to setting a legal end date for the sale of new, non–zero emission buses, and to set an expectation for when the entire fleet should be zero emission. In 2022, the Department held a public consultation on end of sales dates between 2025 and 2032 to gather views and inform a decision. We will make an announcement shortly. In this Parliament, we have allocated over £460m of dedicated funding for Zero Emission Buses in England (outside London).
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the viability of community transport schemes.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department makes available over £3 million each year to community transport operators through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), supporting them to continue delivering inclusive and accessible transport across the country.
A new uplift of 60% has been added to BSOG claims for community transport operators until 31 March 2025. This means operators will receive £1.60 for every £1 claimed, reflecting the increased costs faced by the sector.
We have also encouraged Local Transport Authorities to engage with community transport operators when preparing their Bus Service Improvement Plans, which are vital in setting out an area’s long term plans for bus services and how they will be improved.
Our £20 million Rural Mobility Fund (RMF) in England is supporting 16 innovative, demand-led minibus trials in rural and suburban areas across 16 local authorities in England. These pilots are exploring whether Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) can serve these communities more effectively than traditional public transport solutions alone.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support local authorities to maintain bus services.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020. This includes £2 billion in emergency and recovery funding to maintain services during the pandemic; over £1 billion allocated in 2022 to help local transport authorities deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans; a further £1 billion redirected from HS2 to improve bus services in the North and the Midlands as part of Network North; £300 million in ongoing funding to support and improve services until April 2025; and nearly £600 million to cap single bus fares at £2 from 1 January 2023 until the end of 2024.
From the further £1 billion redirected from HS2, City of York council has been allocated £1.153m as a first instalment, for 2024/25.
The Department also makes around £260 million available every year to bus operators and local authorities through the Bus Service Operators Grant to help run services that might otherwise be unprofitable and could lead to cancellation. £42 million of this funding goes to local authorities.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of advanced partnership arrangements for co-ordinating local bus services; what best practice he has identified; and if he will issue guidance to local partnerships on minimum standards.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
96% of Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) in England which opted to deliver their local bus services through an Enhanced Partnership (EP) have now developed and published their EP schemes, based on their local Bus Service Improvement Plan.
EPs have facilitated closer working relationships between LTAs, operators and other local stakeholders, supported by over £1bn of BSIP delivery funding for the period 2022/23 to 2024/25.
The Government has published guidance on developing EPs which sets out the required standards for delivery of LTAs’ EP scheme commitments.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timetable is for publishing updated guidance for local transport authorities on local transport plans; and what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that local stakeholders reviewing their LTPs are made aware of any potential changes to guidance.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As a result of the unprecedented uplift in local transport funding announced as part of the Network North plan, the Department is reconsidering the case for guidance to local authorities on this matter. The Department aims to publish, in the spring of this year, advice to local authorities on the new local transport funds announced as part of the Network North plan. The Department will provide updates to local authorities in due course. In the meantime, local authorities should continue to update their local transport plans as they see fit, giving regard to published national transport policy and local priorities.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help support businesses that manufacture (a) cycle and (b) e-cycles.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to supporting UK businesses that manufacture, retail and service cycles and e-cycles. This support takes many forms including unprecedented investment in safe cycling infrastructure which enables more people to cycle safely; and initiatives such as the Cycle to Work scheme which allows many people to access cycles more cheaply. These and other measures help increase the demand for new cycles and e-cycles, and for the servicing of existing cycles and e-cycles.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much and what proportion of his Department's capital grants to local authorities have been spent on internal (a) administration and (b) other management costs in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In line with the guidance issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, capital grants to local authorities are non-ringfenced, and not subject to any restrictions on how local authorities spend the grant money. However, to ensure capital grants are spent on delivering the schemes for which they are intended, my department requires a declaration to be made by the recipient local authorities that the conditions of each grant have been complied with.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to tackle pavement parking.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local authorities already have powers to restrict pavement parking. The Department has undertaken a consultation on additional options to help councils tackle this problem and we will publish a formal response in due course.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to help ensure national oversight of new Local Transport Plans to ensure that they are meeting the (a) access and (b) environmental requirements of a more accessible integrated transport system.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport is considering the need for guidance to local authorities on this and other matters in the light of the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement in October, which represents a significant change in the Government’s funding of local transport schemes. Local authorities are already required under the Public Sector Equality Duty to consider the impacts of their plans and policies on those with protected characteristics. The Department’s ‘Inclusive Mobility’ guidance, published on GOV.UK, provides advice and best practice to them on the development of accessible transport and pedestrian environments.