Traffic Signs Review

Norman Baker Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2011 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

Great Britain has one of the safest road networks in the world and the quality and clarity of our traffic signs make a significant contribution to this. The Department for Transport has now completed the most significant review of traffic signs for over 40 years to ensure that this traffic sign system continues to meet the needs of road users now and in the future.

I am pleased to announce that the Department is today publishing the policy document, “Signing the Way”, which sets out the findings of the review. This document provides a framework for a new traffic sign system which retains national consistency, but reduces central Government involvement in local decisions, reducing costs and giving local authorities the flexibility to respond to local needs. It also sets out our proposals for streamlining the traffic regulation order process which would reduce costs and time.

The review recognises that our travel behaviour is changing and that people are being encouraged to cycle and to walk where practical. The traffic sign system needs to reflect these changes and this review will ensure that our traffic signs meet the needs of all road users.

Traffic signs also directly affect how much clutter there is on our roads. While road users require traffic signs to undertake their journeys safely and legally, too much signing creates an untidy, unattractive and confusing environment. The review sets out measures to reduce the number of signs on the road and provides advice to local authorities on removing unnecessary signing.

The review requires a major update of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions and the Department is proceeding with this work as a priority. In the interim, we will deliver changes where possible through the Secretary of State’s traffic signs authorisation process.

Rural Bus Services

Norman Baker Excerpts

Tuesday 11th October 2011 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

I think the hon. Gentleman means three parties.

Mr Scott, it is good to see you in the Chair, given your transport expertise. We are delighted to have you here. I thank the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), my coalition colleague, for raising the issue of rural bus services and securing time to allow us to debate these important issues. There has been a very good turnout. I welcome that. It is helpful for Members of Parliament to make it clear that they do value bus services and, in particular, rural bus services. The tone of the debate has been positive and constructive. Hon. Members made a number of very good points, which I will try to respond to in the time available.

I know from my own constituency that buses are a lifeline for many people in rural areas, providing access to jobs, schools, health care and social activities. Good bus services contribute to both the Government’s key transport priorities: creating growth and cutting carbon. By providing an attractive alternative to the car, we can not only cut carbon but, at the same time, unclog the congestion that can choke off local economies. That applies particularly to towns.

We are committed to reducing the budget deficit, as has been said and as hon. Members have accepted across the Chamber today. Every sector has to play its part. The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (John Woodcock), will remember that the Labour party was committed to £44 billion of cuts as well. We must recognise that every sector has to play its part. However, we have a duty to pay particular attention to those who are most reliant on buses, such as the people referred to by the hon. Member for South West Durham—

[Pat Glass]

North West Durham.

[Norman Baker]

North West Durham. Well, I am sure that there are some people in south-west Durham with similar issues.

Central to all this is our commitment, as part of the comprehensive spending review, to continue our financial subsidy of bus operators. Bus service operators grant remains untouched for this financial year. Notice of 18 months or thereabouts was given of the changes. The 20% savings are to be introduced from next April. That 20% reduction represents a good deal for bus operators and passengers when compared with reductions to budgets elsewhere. Although it will inevitably have some effect on fares and services, I have been assured by operators that that will be only at the margins. Indeed, after the spending review decision was announced, the industry said that it felt able to absorb the reduction in bus service operators grant without raising fares or cutting services.

[Pat Glass]

With respect, we are not talking about the change to bus service operators grant. That is yet to come. We are talking about the impact of the cuts to local authority budgets. The situation is bad enough, but next year it will get far worse with the change to bus service operators grant.

[Norman Baker]

If I am allowed to make some progress, I will of course address that point. I am trying to structure my response. The hon. Member for Great Yarmouth, whose debate it is, referred to these issues: bus service operators grant, local tendered services, support from local authorities and concessionary fares. I will deal with each of those. The point that I am making on the first one is that it is not an issue that should concern hon. Members, because the bus operators themselves have said that the reduction can be absorbed. Therefore, BSOG is not a problem in terms of the services provided.

[John Woodcock]

Just to be clear, is the Minister saying that he is clear that there will be no further reductions in services as a result of the reduction in BSOG next year?

--- Later in debate ---

[Norman Baker]

I am saying what I was told by the Confederation of Passenger Transport. Immediately after the spending review, it indicated that in general terms it felt able to absorb the reduction in BSOG without an effect on services or fares. That is what it said. I am happy to provide the quote if the hon. Gentleman wants to see it.

It should also be recognised that, even in places such as Norfolk, about two thirds of journeys are on commercial services and are therefore unaffected by what local authorities decide in relation to their own budgets.

Let me turn now to concessionary travel and say first very plainly that, even in these times of austerity measures, the coalition Government are firmly committed to protecting the concessionary bus travel scheme. That was made clear in the coalition agreement, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer reconfirmed that commitment in the spending review. The scheme is of huge benefit to about 11.5 million people, allowing free off-peak travel anywhere in England. That generous concession provides older and disabled people with greater freedom, independence and a lifeline to their community. It enables access to facilities both within and outside their local area and helps them to keep in touch with family and friends. Travel to visit popular tourist destinations can also bring benefits to the wider economy.

The Government are aware of how precious the benefit is to older and disabled people, which is why we are focusing our efforts on assisting local authorities to find efficiencies through reforms to administrative arrangements for the scheme, rather than cutting back on the entitlement. For the avoidance of doubt, the free bus pass is here to stay.

[Mr Andrew Turner]

My hon. Friend is quite correct in what he quotes. I fell into the bear trap that the Labour party left for me, and so did my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, as far as I can see.

[Mr Turner]

I was wrong to support the scheme, but I supported it and I will support it for the rest of this Parliament. What happens then is a matter that we will have to debate and develop.

[Norman Baker]

I can say to my hon. Friend to be helpful that a number of well-meaning people who are very committed to bus services have raised similar points to the one that he has raised. Those points have been noted and passed both to the Department for Transport and elsewhere in Government. However, we are clear about the commitment that we have made to the free bus pass, and that is not going to change.

I should at this stage pick up a point made by the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth about trying to save money on administration in relation to the bus pass. That is right. We need to consider those types of saving. That is one reason why we were supportive of the idea of moving the administration from districts to counties, which saves considerable costs in the administration of the bus pass.

Only one small change has been made to the entitlement to concessionary fares: the age of eligibility has been increased in line with the changes taking place to the state pension age. That is right, as people are living longer, staying healthy longer and tending to stay in work until later in life. That change started in April 2010, just before the last general election, so local authorities are already making savings as a result. The change will assist with the financial sustainability of the scheme, while reserving the benefits of the bus pass for those with the greater need.

What has not changed at all—this is an important point—is that operators should be reimbursed for concessionary bus travel only on a no better, no worse-off basis. That is in primary legislation introduced by the previous Government. Nothing that this Government have done has changed that at all. Almost a year ago, the Department for Transport published revised guidance to local authorities to support them in determining their arrangements with bus companies, to make sure that they are no better and no worse off. I made that clear in my recent letter to the hon. Member for North West Norfolk (Mr Bellingham) and my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb), both of whom came to see me to talk about bus services in the county.

In a report published in May, the Competition Commission strongly commended the guidance issued by my Department, since it helps local authorities to take account of the impacts that the concessionary travel scheme can have on commercial pricing policies. The commission says that it hopes that the guidance will be followed to the greatest extent possible. In fact, the majority of local authorities are now using the guidance and should be reaping the financial benefits of taking it on board. I stress, however, that it is entirely a matter for them whether they use the guidance or not. There is no compulsion to do so. The only compulsion is the one that existed in legislation introduced by the previous Government to ensure that bus companies are no better and no worse off from operating the concessionary fares scheme. The guidance can be a useful starting point for negotiation between bus operators and local authorities and, so far this year, more than half of the appeals lodged by operators have been withdrawn—a significant improvement on previous years.

I remind Members that our funding for bus travel does not stop at concessionary travel reimbursement and bus operator subsidy. We have also provided almost £47 million to local transport authorities and bus operators to purchase 542 low-carbon buses across England, through our green bus fund. I would also like to refer to our new £560 million local sustainable transport fund, which this Government have introduced. There have been 39 successful bids in tranche 1, 25 of which have included bus-based elements to help bus travel locally.

Turning to the third element, I recognise that the recent local authority settlement has been challenging. There is no doubt about that. I have heard the argument that the distribution method used at the time does not reflect the particular circumstances facing each local council. That has been brought into sharp relief now that, since April, all funding for the statutory concessionary travel scheme has been provided as part of the settlement from the Department for Communities and Local Government. I should point out, however, that last summer’s consultation by that Department provided an opportunity to influence the final distribution method for the first two years of the spending review period. The overall funding then set was deemed by DCLG to be sufficient to enable local authorities to deliver effective local services, while ensuring that authorities do not set excessive council tax increases. Councils now have another opportunity to make their voices heard. DCLG is consulting on the broad options for a new way of funding local government, based on business rates retention.

The Government are clear that any changes must protect the interests of local taxpayers and the vulnerable, be fair for all councils and encourage growth. Councils that are more deprived—I accept the point that has been made about the definition of deprivation—will continue to receive central Government support. We recognise, however, that it may be possible to improve the way local council spending on concessionary travel reimbursement is treated in allocating local government resources. That is why, following my meeting in April with the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth, my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk, the hon. Member for Broadland (Mr Simpson), my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich South (Simon Wright), and the hon. Members for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss) and for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), I wrote to the Minister for Housing and Local Government on 20 July about the way formula grant is calculated, the relative needs formula for concessionary travel, the so-called floor-damping mechanism, and the local government resource review. That is why the consultation considers whether to review the relative needs formulae for concessionary travel when establishing the baseline for local government funding from 2013-14 onwards.

[Sarah Newton]

I welcome the review of local government funding formulae. One area of reimbursement that the Minister has not mentioned, and on which I hope he will give an assurance, relates to parts of the country that welcome lots of tourists but are not, at the moment, reimbursed for the cost of honouring concessionary fares. Can he assure us that the review will consider that?

[Norman Baker]

I can give an assurance only that, first, that point was made to me in a meeting with Norfolk MPs, and secondly, that it has been reflected in comments that I have passed on to DCLG. I am happy to share the reply that I received from the Minister for Housing and Local Government. He confirmed that he had received the letter and that, in his view, the new business rate retention system is likely to address Norfolk’s concerns. That was the official response from DCLG and the Minister thinks that that is part of the answer. There is recognition, at least, from DCLG that Members in Norfolk have a legitimate concern about the matter, and it is therefore being factored, I think, into the Department’s thinking.

Let me now turn to reductions in tendered bus services, which in England comprise about 22% of bus services, while the rest are commercially provided. As I have said, the recent local government finance settlement has been challenging, but I am still disappointed that in some areas local councils have responded by taking the axe to local bus services in a rather unimaginative way. This hits particularly hard in rural areas where supported services make up a higher share of the total than in metropolitan areas. I am naturally concerned when I hear that vulnerable people with few other transport choices have lost their only bus service, or that children have reduced public transport access to the school of their choice. It would seem that there is also an impact on people’s love lives and on cats, but perhaps I should keep away from cats.

Some councils, such as Cambridgeshire, have unfortunately taken an almost slash-and-burn approach to bus services, while others, such as East Riding, where the percentage cuts are in single figures, have been much more considerate and careful in their decisions. There is therefore a big difference—this is part of localism—between the responses of individual councils. People are now empowered to ask why their council has made cuts in their area when similar cuts have not been made across the border. I hope that people will start picking up on these differences and challenge their councillors accordingly. That is part of the answer to the point that the hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith) made about North Yorkshire, because the position in North Yorkshire is very different from that in, for example, East Riding.

I was encouraged to read in a recent press release by Norfolk council that it has been able to make significant savings this year with

“very little disruption to bus services.”

Another example is Dorset, which I understand is making savings of up to £1 million this year through an innovative procurement model. That is something that I am examining to see whether there are lessons that can be rolled out to other councils throughout the country.

I am interested in the point made by the hon. Member for South Derbyshire (Heather Wheeler) about feeder services in Shropshire. Section 22 community transport services can qualify for concessionary travel, so it is possible for them to be included in a proper arrangement for a planned bus network.

I am also keen that local authorities make the most efficient use of their resources, whether that means combining adult social care transport with patient and school transport, or providing more flexible forms of public transport in areas where commercial services are not available. In Cheltenham, for example, Gloucestershire county council has replaced a costly subsidised bus service with a route operated by a community transport group, which integrates school transport in the mornings and afternoons with a scheduled timetable open to the public in between. I think that that is the sort of initiative that the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth was suggesting might be applied more widely.

On community transport eligibility, as I have mentioned, section 22 services qualify. Section 19 services do not, because the Department has long held the view that, because they are on-demand services and available only to specific groups of people, it would not be fair to extend concessionary fare eligibility to them. It could also undermine existing tendered or commercial services. They qualify, however, for bus service operators grants, so there is support.

I am conscious of the time, but let me pick up one or two of the points that have been raised. The hon. Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman) made a point about integration across counties. Local authorities have powers to work together with operators of commercial services across boundaries to integrate timetables. That is done in some areas, such as Oxford and Sheffield, so the powers are there and were, in fact, reinforced in the Local Transport Act 2008. It is up to local authorities to use the powers that they have. There are no quality contracts in place at the moment. The legislation exists to allow them to be formed. There are statutory quality partnerships, which is perhaps what the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness was discussing. If local authorities want to avail themselves of the powers in the 2008 Act, they can do so. Some of the legislation is slightly complicated. In fact, when I was in opposition, I wanted to go further, in line with some of the comments made by Government Members during today’s debate, but that did not find favour with the previous Government.

The Competition Commission has produced this week its provisional remedies for the bus market. The Department for Transport may need to look at those carefully. Perhaps some solutions will help to address some of the issues that have been raised today. The hon. Member for Hexham talked about more council control, which is what the Competition Commission is suggesting, particularly in terms of multi-operator ticketing.

The hon. Member for South West Norfolk raised the issue of rail-bus integration.

[Mr Lee Scott (in the Chair)]

Order. It is now time for the next debate.

Oral Answers to Questions

Norman Baker Excerpts

Thursday 15th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

10. What consultation he has had with coach operators on the effects of the withdrawal of the coach concessionary travel scheme.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

The decision to end Government funding for the half-price coach concession was announced as part of the 2010 spending review. The Government have corresponded with affected operators on the proposed change and my officials have held discussions with National Express—one of the operators affected by the phasing out of the concession. An impact assessment relating to the ending of the coach concession has been submitted to the Reducing Regulation Committee. The final assessment will be published on the Department’s website and a copy will be placed in the Library of the House.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

I thank the Minister for that answer, but I suspect that he will have received, as I have, countless letters from constituents who see much more expensive coach travel coming down the line as a result of the scrapping of the scheme by October 2012. Am I right in my understanding that no public inquiry with disabled or older people’s groups has been carried out? If so, what justification can he have for scrapping the scheme without first consulting the most affected users?

[Norman Baker]

Of course we assessed the proposal as part of the spending review, and I mentioned the Reducing Regulation Committee assessment a moment ago. May I suggest that the position is not quite as apocalyptic as the hon. Gentleman makes out? A year ago, after the 2010 spending review announcement, National Express said:

“We are already planning for the removal of the coach concessionary fares scheme in October 2011 and will announce new products aimed at the over 60s and disabled travellers in due course. We believe the financial impact of the scheme’s removal is manageable and will be mitigated by our own plans”.

[Caroline Nokes]

I thank the Minister for his comments. Many elderly and disabled people in my constituency have become reliant on coach travel because of its ease of use and cost-effectiveness. If this decision results in the withdrawal of some routes, what choice does he think those vulnerable groups in my constituency will be left with, given that train travel is acknowledged to be very expensive?

[Norman Baker]

First, we have retained the bus concession in its entirety when many thought that was vulnerable in the current financial circumstances—that has not been chopped in any way. Secondly, the senior citizen railcard continues to exist, and it enables those people to receive a significant discount on rail travel. Thirdly, as I have said, National Express, which is by far and away the largest coach provider, is intending to put its own scheme in place, and I am sure it will do that. I say that, first, because it makes commercial sense for National Express to do so and, secondly, because the profits on its coach division increased by 14% in the last six months.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

This proposal beggars belief—only on planet Norman can this be a good idea. Does the Minister not understand that removing the concessionary coach fares—an entitlement for almost 12 million pensioners and an additional number of disabled people—will, as Age UK puts it, have a “devastating effect” on many people, who will struggle to afford their coach journeys in future? Does he not see that by cutting too far and too fast his approach is having an unfair impact on pensioners and disabled people, and increasing the chances of them being socially isolated?

[Norman Baker]

That was rather over the top, if I may say so. The fact is that National Express operated its own coach concession arrangements before 2003, and it indicated last year that it believes the situation is manageable and that it intends to introduce a further concession. As I said a moment ago, the profits of the UK coach division of National Express have increased by 14%. Indeed, the profits of the National Express Group—a very successful company—have risen by 26% in the first half of this year. If the hon. Gentleman is suggesting that the public purse should subsidise the profits of National Express, that would be an odd position for the Labour party to take.

[Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con)]

8. What recent steps he has taken to encourage cycling.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

The Government are strongly in favour of cycling, as we said in our coalition agreement. On 5 July, I announced the allocation of £155.5 million to 37 authorities to deliver packages of measures that support economic growth and cut carbon emissions, as part of the £560 million local sustainable transport fund—many of these include cycling. I will announce the remaining allocations in summer 2012. In addition, I have established a cycling forum, which met for the first time this week. We want to get more people cycling, more safely, more often.

[Chris Skidmore]

The Minister will undoubtedly be aware of the huge success that cycling city status has brought south Gloucestershire. Could he now seriously consider the North Fringe to Hengrove major scheme bid that his Department has received recently? The scheme will further enhance cycling provision and will boost economic growth.

[Norman Baker]

I agree that the initiatives in south Gloucestershire have been successful, and I congratulate my hon. Friend on his inventiveness and ingenuity in including that question under this heading. He will understand that the project he mentions is subject to assessment under the development pool arrangements. A decision will be made later this year, but his support for the scheme is noted.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

CTC reports that the biggest deterrent to cycling is fear of busy roads. What are the Government doing to improve driver training and put more emphasis on cyclists’ needs? How can the Minister ensure that dangerous or intimidating driving is made as unacceptable as drink driving?

[Norman Baker]

Dangerous and intimidating driving is already subject to police enforcement, but we are taking steps to ensure that drivers are aware of cyclists on the road. A Trixi mirror pilot has been approved for London, and it is now in place and showing good results. The Under-Secretary with responsibility for road safety is very aware of this issue and is looking at driving training for HGV drivers in particular.

[Mr Speaker]

We are better informed about Trixi mirrors and we are grateful to the Minister for that.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)]

T3. The Government are asking more disabled people to find work through the work capability assessment programme. Does the Minister understand that transport, and in particular cancelled station upgrades, slow replacement of rolling stock and rising prices are a significant barrier for many disabled people in Wigan and across the country? What action is he taking to address this?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

We are taking a good deal of action to help disabled passengers whom we want to have full access to the transport system. Plans are going ahead to ensure that rail vehicles and buses are fully accessible, we are also continuing with the access for all programme to upgrade railway stations, and I regularly meet disabled groups to ensure that our programmes and policies are fully in line with their wishes.

[Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

T6. Can the House be given an update on yesterday’s interdepartmental meeting on the theft of metals and the review of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964?

[Norman Baker]

I am grateful for that question because metal theft is an extremely serious issue for passengers on the rail network and for motorists who are now affected on motorways, and the coastguard service. This is a matter that we take very seriously, because of its impact on business apart from anything else. There was a very good meeting of Ministers from a number of Departments yesterday. We have a plan to ensure that we are using our existing powers as fully as possible, and to look at what other steps may be necessary to deal with this high level crime.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

T5. Businesses have been encouraged by the announcement of a Humber enterprise zone and the Government’s commitment to finding a sustainable solution to Humber bridge tolls. Will the Secretary of State give a green light to potential investors by announcing when the upgrade to the A160 will take place?

--- Later in debate ---

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Minister referred earlier to the access for all programme. Newton station in my constituency is in dire need of an upgrade to improve access. Will he speak to Transport Scotland to ensure that the station gets those improvements quickly?

[Norman Baker]

I am not familiar with that specific case, but I will happily look into it. I will discuss the matter with officials and write to the hon. Gentleman.

[Joseph Johnson (Orpington) (Con)]

T10. Daniel Upcraft and his fiancée Nicola were hit by a heavy lorry while queuing in traffic on the M25 last April. Daniel was left with very serious brain injuries and Nicola tragically lost her life. The driver of the lorry was found to have had undiagnosed sleep apnoea and the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case against him. Will the Minister please agree to meet Daniel’s mother, Carole, my constituent, who is running a campaign to raise awareness of the impact of sleep apnoea on drivers’ ability to maintain vigilance?

--- Later in debate ---

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

Integrated transport authorities have effectively re-regulated buses in the larger metropolitan county areas, which has squeezed private bus companies and made the bus wars in rural areas particularly fierce. That is great for those who live on lucrative bus routes, but services to smaller rural villages have become so bad as to be non-existent in some places. What is the Minister doing to help people out in those smaller rural areas?

[Norman Baker]

Local decisions are a matter for local authorities, which are elected and are in the best position to make those decisions. The hon. Lady will be aware that the Competition Commission is examining the bus market and will report later this year. We will obviously give serious consideration to its recommendations.

The Minister for Women and Equalities was asked—

Bus Industry

Norman Baker Excerpts

Tuesday 6th September 2011 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) on securing this very important debate, as I know that he has taken a keen interest in these issues for a number of years. I welcome the chance to contribute to the debate from the Opposition Front Bench. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Streeter.

On the specific issue of competition in the bus industry, we need to examine the deregulation of the buses to understand how we have ended up with the current situation. As my hon. Friend outlined, it is now 25 years—almost to the day— since the deregulation of the bus industry outside London. Of course, in London, Transport for London, which is accountable to the Mayor, specifies in detail which services are provided. It decides the routes, timetables, fares—everything down to the colour of the buses. The services themselves are operated by private companies through a competitive tendering process, but there is no on-road competition.

In the rest of the country, such as in the Greater Manchester constituencies that my hon. Friend and I represent, there is, in theory at least, a free market, so anyone can start up a bus service as long as they meet minimum safety and operating standards. Bus operators are practically free to run whatever services they like, charge whatever fares they like and, as we saw with the UK North debacle in Manchester, use whatever vehicles they like. Monitoring and regulation of reliability and vehicle cleanliness is largely minimal. Although it is supposed to be a competitive market, the majority of services are provided by just a few bus companies. As my hon. Friend correctly outlined, the vast majority of commercial services in my south Manchester constituency are operated by Stagecoach, in contrast to his north Manchester constituency, where the predominant provider is First. Local authorities will fill the gaps where there is an inadequate commercial service, and such local authority-funded routes are operated by private companies through a competitive tendering process.

My hon. Friend was right to raise concerns about how some of these big companies play the deregulated system. In 2004, before I came to the House, I was a local councillor on Tameside metropolitan borough council. Just before the general election in 2005, Stagecoach Manchester removed the well-used 375 bus service, which used to link Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, Stockport town centre, Denton, Ashton town centre and Tameside general hospital. That service between the two district general hospitals was an important link for the communities along the route.

The route was commercially viable, making about £50 a week profit, but it was never going to make Stagecoach Manchester a lot of money. Nevertheless, it was a commercial service, it was commercially viable and it made a profit, albeit at the margins. However, Stagecoach decided to withdraw the service to the two district general hospitals, so that the route went only to Stockport and Ashton. Anyone who wanted to go to the hospitals had to get on another bus at Stockport bus station or Ashton bus station.

Stagecoach then decided to split the new service in two. The 375 became the 317A and the 317B. In the middle of the route, people had to get off one bus and wait for the next one to arrive. That made the service non-profit-making overnight. There was no change to the route, but splitting it in two meant that it was not commercially viable. Stagecoach therefore went cap in hand to the Greater Manchester passenger transport authority for not one public subsidy, but two. That highlighted loud and clear how Stagecoach Manchester played the system, turning a service that was profit-making—albeit marginally—into two subsidised services, which is outrageous.

Across the country, the picture on deregulation is mixed. In some areas, services have undoubtedly improved, as we heard from the hon. Member for Hove (Mike Weatherley), and some bus companies have invested in new bus fleets. In many areas, however, it is fair to say that deregulation over the past 25 years has resulted in a much worse service, which costs taxpayers and passengers alike much more. Figures produced by the Passenger Transport Executive Group on behalf of the passenger transport executives in the six metropolitan conurbations outside London show that bus fares have increased by 94% in those areas in the years since deregulation, while the number of those using buses has fallen by 46%. In some PTE areas, the decline has been even greater, with ridership down by 65% in South Yorkshire since deregulation.

Deregulation has had a number of other negative knock-on effects. It is much harder for local authorities to put in place long-term bus networks or to properly integrate bus services with other transport modes, such as rail and light rail, particularly where those services are operated by competing businesses, as in north Manchester, where, until recently, the trams were operated by Stagecoach and the buses were predominantly operated by First. As my hon. Friends have said, deregulation also makes it much more difficult to provide a competitively priced multi-modal ticketing system like the London Oyster card.

One of the more worrying aspects of the changes is the effect on socially necessary bus services, as we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright). There has been a gradual reduction in off-peak and lifeline estate services, with more focus on more profitable major bus routes. In a market-driven environment, commercially driven bus operators will of course concentrate more on the more profitable commuter routes and less on socially necessary services. With the scope for cross-subsidy removed, the cost of the diminishing subsidised network has increased massively—

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

It is 10.24.

[Mr Gary Streeter (in the Chair)]

Order. The debate continues until 11 o’clock. Continue.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

I thank the hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) for raising this important subject and doing so in his usual measured and thoughtful way. His knowledge is considerable, as I discovered when we served in Committee on the Local Transport Act 2008. I am delighted to have rather more time than I thought I might to respond to the debate.

The Government are committed to supporting local bus services and markets through concessionary travel reimbursement, direct operator subsidy and our funding of local government. However, as I have made clear before, with those significant amounts of public expenditure invested in the bus market, it is only right to consider whether it is delivering the best service for bus passengers and best value for the taxpayer. The Competition Commission has identified, in its provisional findings, aspects of the local bus market where competition is restricted, prevented or distorted. That cannot be good for passengers if it means that they enjoy less frequent services and have to pay higher fares as a result. If that in turn means that fewer people are able to make use of their local bus, and instead have to travel by other means or cannot travel at all, that has wider, and unwelcome, societal and environmental impacts.

Of course, bus markets are local in nature. Many of the effects will be localised, and I have encouraged the Competition Commission to set out where and in what circumstances it believes competition is failing to materialise. It is important that it should be specific in its comments in the final report. One of the concerns raised by the Competition Commission, which I share, relates to profitability—a point raised by the hon. Members for Blackley and Broughton and for Hartlepool (Mr Wright). Excess profitability is an important indicator of ineffective competition. Evidence commissioned by the Department for Transport suggests that profits are particularly high in the largest metropolitan areas, so I have asked the commission to consider whether it can identify specific areas where ineffective competition is most prevalent. A key test of potential remedies will be whether they result in more people travelling on buses and bring about wider benefits to society by helping to create growth and cut carbon emissions.

The inquiry is ongoing, and with representatives of local government and passenger and bus operators, my Department continues to engage with the commission as it prepares to publish its provisional remedies later this month. Hon. Members will understand why I do not propose to anticipate those remedies in my remarks today: it is important that we let the commission, as an independent body, come to its conclusions on the basis of the evidence placed before it. However, I will take this opportunity to respond to the points raised during this debate.

The Local Transport Act 2008 made changes to the provisions of quality contract schemes and partnerships and introduced new forms of legal partnership working. It came into force only in 2009, and the Competition Commission has indicated that quality contracts and quality partnerships may be remedies for the competition problems that it has identified. It is therefore sensible to wait for the final outcome of the inquiry at the end of the year before deciding whether further changes to the regulatory regime are needed.

The hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton asked about the coalition policy as it relates to the 2008 Act. It is on the public record and therefore no secret that the two coalition parties, when in opposition, had differing views on the Act. The Conservatives were more sceptical about the value of quality contracts than were the Liberal Democrats. When the coalition was formed, the decision was taken that, as the process was already under way, the sensible course of action was to wait for the Competition Commission to analyse the market and produce its findings, so that we could proceed on a sound basis, free of prejudice, relying on proper analysis and collated evidence. That remains the position. I do not accept that that is agnosticism—the term used by the hon. Gentleman. It is a sensible decision to wait for the evidence, at which stage we shall analyse it internally and decide what action, if any, we should take in response to the findings of the commission. That process is under way in relation to the structure and landscape of the market.

The hon. Gentleman no doubt expects me to make the point that the landscape about which he and his colleagues complain is largely the one that their party’s Government created, which we inherited. He and the hon. Members for Hartlepool and for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) will also be aware that it is on the record of the Local Transport Bill Committee that, had the amendment that I tabled been accepted, many of the actions that Opposition Members now ask for would be unnecessary—the measures would already be law. We did not make more progress at that time because of the then Government’s reluctance to go further.

Before the Competition Commission report is published, however, I want to encourage joint working between bus operators and local authorities. We have seen good results, with local authorities and operators working effectively in partnership to improve bus services in places such as Birmingham, Brighton and Oxford.

My hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mike Weatherley) and I are lucky in having good bus services in our area. I too pay tribute to Roger French, who has been most effective in driving up bus patronage. He has shown that it can work and that the moaning Minnies who say that bus patronage is going into decline are wrong, as the examples of Brighton, Hove and other places prove. My hon. Friend complained about the effective monopoly that operates in Brighton and Hove and the difficulties faced by the Big Lemon service; he clearly wants to give the Big Lemon aid in some form. The monopoly of which he complains is not terribly different from that which the hon. Members for Hartlepool and for Blackley and Broughton complained about. One operator having an 85% to 90% market share inevitably makes it difficult for other companies to enter the market, and it can be difficult to challenge. My hon. Friend is right to say that the cost of fuel does not relate to the route on which it is used and that differential pricing is clearly a result of competition along those routes. The absence of competition clearly enables Brighton and Hove to charge a higher rate for its bus services. That is a striking example, but I shall ask my officials to ensure that the entire report of our debate is passed to the Competition Commission so that it can see what has been said and take it into account, albeit quite late in its deliberations.

I want to encourage more of that sort of partnership activity so that bus passengers get the services that they deserve and expect. More partnerships need to tackle punctuality, which is the No. 1 priority for passengers and which can be compromised by any number of issues, from road works to poor planning. It is not clear whether the 81% punctuality figure referred to by the hon. Member for Hartlepool was the result of a failure of the bus company or of, for example, congestion, which is a problem for the local authority. Punctuality is not a matter only for the bus companies; there is also a local authority aspect. That demonstrates the need for authorities to be fully involved and to work sensibly with bus companies in their areas.

The Government are looking for operators and local authorities to work in partnership, sharing punctuality and traffic management data to benchmark and improve performance. To facilitate this, a significant number of Vehicle and Operator Services Agency examiners are being trained to engage proactively with operators and local transport authorities to ensure that proper procedures and lines of communication are in place. That new approach is being introduced gradually and has been in place in the north-west since June. I assure hon. Members that traffic commissioners will continue to take effective enforcement action when performance is poor, and that any lessons learned from the north-west will be absorbed before full roll-out takes place. The hon. Member for Hartlepool may want to contact his local traffic commissioner if he is concerned about punctuality in his area.

As the hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton said, another important concern for passengers is integration, especially in fares and ticketing. I share his view that what he described as a simple fare and ticketing structure, with through-ticketing, can be effective in driving up passenger numbers. I absolutely agree and the Department is focusing on that aspect. My vision is of seamless end-to-end journeys, with tickets being available at a decent price and being valid on all services in a city, not only those of the dominant operator.

I shall continue to encourage the development of integrated multi-operator ticketing schemes, and my officials are actively engaged with the Competition Commission and bus operators in helping to remove barriers to their successful implementation. I firmly believe that bus tickets should be valid with more than one operator, but they should also be valid over much wider areas and easy to use. That will be of clear benefit to passengers. That is why I am committed, with operators and public sector bodies, to delivering the infrastructure necessary to enable most public transport journeys to be undertaken using smart ticketing by December 2014.

In many places, including in Greater Manchester and other large metropolitan areas, smart ticketing is already being introduced by local authorities and major national bus operators. It is fuelled by the smartcard incentive offered by the Government through the bus service operators grant and other pump-priming schemes that we have offered since the election. The hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton referred to the use of BSOG, saying that there was a better way of targeting it. If I understand him correctly, he believes that it may be more effective to hand it to local authorities to be used for general transport uses. However, it is difficult to square the complaint that the money being made available for buses is diminishing with the argument that what is available should be deployed for wider transport purposes.

[Graham Stringer]

I apologise to the Minister if I did not make my position clear. I suggested handing the money to PTEs and local transport authorities, not for general transport use but for the targeted improvement of bus services. It should be used to help particular bus services, not for other transport schemes.

[Norman Baker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that clarification; he wants the money to be ring-fenced for bus services.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has asked me to initiate a review of BSOG to see whether it is deployed to the best advantage. As far as possible, our time scale is designed to coincide with the Competition Commission report, so that if changes are necessary to the landscape of the industry or to that form of financial help, things could be combined at that stage. To that end, I have been in discussion with the industry and local authorities to hear their aspirations and views on the matter. I shall try to come up with a solution that is satisfactory for both parties—I shall then go on to deal with the Israel-Palestine problem. I hope that we might make some progress. It is in the interests of local authorities and bus operators to come to a sensible arrangement on BSOG.

We understand that good bus services can contribute to both of the Government’s key transport priorities—creating growth and cutting carbon emissions. By providing an attractive alternative to the car, not only can we cut carbon but we can unclog the congestion that chokes off our local economies. However, it must be remembered that we also have to deal with the budget deficit.

I do not want this to be a sterile debate—a phrase used by the hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton—about why we are where we are, but I have to respond to the comments of the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish, the Opposition spokesman. It would have been helpful if he and his colleagues had acknowledged some responsibility for the financial situation in which we find ourselves, rather than pretending that the cuts are somehow malicious and optional, and could have been avoided. That is not the case. I would like to think that we could work across the House to ensure that the impact on bus services is minimised in the constructive way suggested by the hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton.

I shall deal briefly with the three elements of funding referred to earlier. About 80% of bus services are run commercially. I will leave aside questions about the consequences of that for the market and for local government support. The money from the Department for Communities and Local Government is not relevant to those services. At present, local authorities rely on BSOG. The reduction in that grant was trailed long in advance, at the time of the spending review, and it will not take effect until April next year. There has been an 18-month lead in, and the cut was much less than the bus industry anticipated—and much less than Members of Parliament expected. At the time, the Confederation of Passenger Transport, which represents the bus industry, indicated that the cut was manageable and could be introduced without a diminution of services or general fare increases. That is what it said. It is important to point out that bus companies can take the BSOG arrangements in their stride. That should not, therefore, lead to cuts in services.

The basis of the reimbursement arrangements has not changed one iota. The hon. Gentleman will know that primary legislation stipulates that bus companies should be no better and no worse off from handling concessionary travel. That legislative requirement has not changed, and local authorities are required to reimburse bus companies accordingly. All that has happened is that the Department for Transport has issued some guidance to help local authorities to calculate how they should reimburse bus companies, and that, as Members will appreciate, is quite a complicated business. The ultimate test remains the same. If bus companies are unhappy with the reimbursement they have received from a local authority, it is open to them to appeal and their case will be handled independently.

One of the changes that I have made is to ensure that, if there is an appeal, it is possible for a local authority to win. Hitherto, when bus companies have appealed, their contribution has either been reduced or it has stayed the same. Now the appeal process can assess whether local authorities have had to pay too much and reduce the costs to them. That seems to be a much fairer way of dealing with those matters. The appeal process is open, fair and independent and can deal with any complaints that people have.

As for cuts in funding to local authorities, we all accept that local authorities have a challenging settlement. That is particularly the case, may I say for the benefit of the Member who has disappeared, for rural areas and for those services that are supported by local authority funding because they are not commercial to run. Having said that, the pattern of responses from local authorities across the country is varied. Unfortunately, some councils have taken something of an axe to local services, while others have made very few cuts. That is a matter for localism. It is up to local councils to exercise their increased freedom and to decide how they are going to spend their pot of money. We will increasingly see a situation in which one person living in an area will say, “Why is it that my county council has cut these bus services when the county council next door has not cut bus services at all?” That is a perfectly proper question to ask and one that we are trying to encourage in our drive towards localism.

[Mr Andrew Turner]

Will the Minister consider the wish of some elderly people, in areas where buses have been withdrawn altogether, to make a contribution? At present, the system is no buses, no pay.

[Norman Baker]

I well understand why my hon. Friend made that point, which has been made by a number of others. All I can say is that the Prime Minister has made it clear that the concessionary fares regime for local bus travel is not to be compromised and that requiring a charge would do just that. All I can undertake to do is to ensure that my hon. Friend’s comments are passed up the chain so that others are aware of that view.

The hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton mentioned the monitoring of cuts. Let me assure him that we are taking steps to establish the picture. I have asked my officials to do so on a rolling basis. We are checking where services are being significantly cut and where they are being protected. Ultimately, it is a matter for localism, but we have to understand what is happening.

The hon. Gentleman failed to mention the introduction of a £560 million grant, a significant amount, from the local sustainable transport fund, which can be used to drive up the number of bus services in a particular area as part of an integrated package to create growth and cut carbon. That has been well received. If we take the total package of measures under the loose heading of sustainable travel, the £560 million represents an increase in funding compared with what was available under the previous Government. Therefore, despite the difficult economic circumstances and the budget cuts that have taken place, we have made an increase in funding, which has been well received by councils. Every council that could qualify under that scheme, with the exception of the Isles of Scilly, has applied for funding. We had a good first round. I am happy to say that, in Manchester, the key component bid was approved, which is a cycling project for the city. Moreover, a large project from Manchester has applied for a significant amount of money and it has been shortlisted for the final approval process. Therefore, steps are being taken to address the issue of sustainable transport more widely as well.

[Graham Stringer]

I am not sure whether the Minister is referring to the cross-city bus scheme in Greater Manchester. If he is, will he agree to have a meeting with me to discuss it, because the scheme is not as good as it could be and it is not well thought out?

[Norman Baker]

I am happy to say that I was referring to an entirely different amount of Government funding that may be forthcoming depending on the outcome as regards the local sustainable transport fund. However, I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss the particular scheme. He just needs to contact my office to arrange a time.

I am interested that both Conservative and Labour Members have indicated unhappiness—perhaps for different reasons—with the present arrangements in the bus market. Their comments are useful and timely given the nature of the Competition Commission inquiry and its report. I will pass on to the commission a copy of the transcript of this debate from Hansard so that it is aware of the comments that Members have made. I will continue to study carefully the representations not just from hon. Members but from people outside to ensure that we proceed in a sensible way.

[Graham Stringer]

The Minister is being generous with his time. Both he and I have had a lot of time in this debate because it has not been as well attended as it might have been and that is because it clashed with the Transport Committee, so some of the hon. Members who would have been most interested in contributing are on duty elsewhere. Mr Streeter, I wonder whether we could tell Mr Speaker that this has happened and in future scheduling of these debates, we could look to avoid such clashes of obvious interest.

[Norman Baker]

That is not a matter for me, but the comments have been heard and will no doubt be passed on.

The hon. Member for Denton and Reddish mentioned the situation in London. He was advocating that the powers that are held by TFL might be extended to the rest of the country, which would be quite a change in the arrangements. I am not quite sure whether that is official Labour party policy. If it is, I am interested that he has put it forward today. Although his argument interests me, it is not quite the panacea that some people think. For example, when competition started in Manchester, we heard how there were queues of buses down the main street. I have to say that we get queues of buses in London, many of which are empty, because they have, in some cases, been overprovided, so similar problems arise with one operator—TFL. It is also the case that London buses are much more expensive to run overall and there is quite a cost to the public purse. Although I am not negating the argument in total, I am just making the point that counter-arguments have to be taken into account when we consider the landscape after the Competition Commission has reported.

To conclude, buses matter to this Government. My focus is on ensuring that the right funding and regulatory framework are in place to ensure that passengers receive the best possible service, and that taxpayers receive the best possible value from public expenditure.

Humber Bridge (Debts) Order 2011

Norman Baker Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2011 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

I am pleased to announce that I have today laid the Humber Bridge (Debts) Order.2011 before Parliament.

The order provides for the interest rate payable on the debt owed by the Humber bridge board to the Department for Transport to continue to remain at the reduced rate equivalent to 4.25% on the total debt of £332 million during the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2016. The debt represents borrowing from Government for the construction of the Humber bridge and the subsequent capitalisation of annual deficits in the early years of its operation.

Without this order, the interest rate payable on that part of the debt not suspended (£275 million) would revert to 7.75%, as set by the Humber Bridge (Debts) Order 1998. The value of the interest rate reduction to the Humber bridge board amounts to £48 million over the five years, which the board can use to fund maintenance and renewals and/or to make capital repayments.

This order demonstrates a major commitment by this Government to the council taxpayers, travelling public and businesses of the Humber area. Without it, the Humber bridge board would have been obliged either to surcharge council taxpayers in the Humber area, or to increase the tolls on the bridge by as much as 60%.

The arrangement forms part of the base case for second phase of the Humber bridge review announced on 14 June, and is made separately to the process of the review, which is now under way and on which the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and I will make a further announcement in November.

I have stated that the reduced interest rate on the loan is the equivalent of 4.25% payable on the entire debt of £332 million. In 2011-12 this will comprise 5.13% charged on the active portion of the debt (£275 million) and nil payable on the suspended portion of the debt (£57 million). As set out in the 1998 Order, the suspended portion of the debt will progressively be added back into the active debt over the three years to 2014. The interest rate will be reduced accordingly to equate to the 4.25% on the whole debt. Therefore the rate payable on the active debt in the three years 2011-12 to 2013-14 will be 5.13%, 4.82% and 4.52% respectively.

This order is made under the provisions of the Humber Bridge (Debts) Act 1996, and comes into force on 9 August. Upon the coming into force of this order, a revised loan agreement will be signed between the Secretary of State and the Humber bridge board.

Carnforth Station

Norman Baker Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (David Morris) on securing this timely debate on the important subject of platforms at Carnforth station, and on enabling us to have this brief encounter tonight. He has set out with great clarity the arguments in favour of reinstating the fast-line platforms at the station, and his passion and commitment cannot be doubted. I also pay tribute to the work carried out by local people in restoring the station to its former glory.

In 1945, David Lean filmed his romantic classic “Brief Encounter”, starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, at Carnforth station. Many will remember the key role that the station played in the film. The image of the station clock remains resonant for many filmgoers, as my hon. Friend mentioned. However, a long period of decline set in, following the Beeching era. By the early 1990s, the once splendid station had fallen into disrepair. The Carnforth Station and Railway Trust Company Ltd was formed as a local initiative in November 1996 to restore the derelict buildings. A £1.5 million project was commenced in late 2000 in co-operation with Railtrack. After three years’ work, the Brief Encounter refreshment room and visitor centre was opened on 17 October 2003. That represented a remarkable achievement by local people in the Carnforth area, which I commend.

As my hon. Friend explained, local ambitions at Carnforth now focus on the reinstatement of the mainline platforms at Carnforth station, which closed in 1970. However, it would not be possible to discuss the reinstatement of the mainline platforms without referring to the planned developments for inter-city rail services on the west coast main line.

In January, the Government issued a consultation on the specification for the new inter-city west coast franchise, which is due to commence in 2012 and will replace the current Virgin Trains rail franchise. The current franchise operates more than 300 train services a day, delivering more than 26 million passenger journeys and 3.2 billion passenger miles a year, providing train services along the west coast main line from Euston to Glasgow in Scotland. It serves the key cities of Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and north Wales. Passenger growth has shown a continuous increase since 2003. The effects of the volcanic ash clouds in 2010 and earlier this year and the associated aviation disruption have contributed to a considerable modal shift from air to rail—something that the Government very much welcome for climate change reasons. The objectives for the new franchise set out in January therefore include exploiting the full potential of the route and maximising capacity.

The Government believe that the former system of franchising had become too prescriptive at the point of bidding and lacked flexibility once operational. A new franchising system has been devised to facilitate and encourage significant private investment, and is designed to deliver important benefits for passengers. The Government also believe that longer franchises are necessary to encourage such investment, build successful long-term working relationships with Network Rail, focus franchises more strongly on the quality of outcomes for passengers and deliver the best possible value for money for the taxpayer in a highly constrained public spending environment.

Where does all that fit in with the Carnforth station platform request? Let me turn to the local aspirations for the station once again to become a stop on long-distance services. It is important to emphasise that both the current Virgin Trains franchise and the new inter-city west coast franchise have to accommodate many different markets. A key issue in any proper consideration of the matter is whether a proposal to stop London train services at reinstated platforms at Carnforth would work operationally and commercially. Initial analysis by the Department suggests that a call at Carnforth would require a stop at another station to be deleted. Therefore, a potential gain at Carnforth would result in a disbenefit to passengers from other stations on the route. Obviously that would require some hard and careful decision making.

[David Morris]

I should point out that Virgin trains stop in Carnforth for 20 minutes in the morning and evening, but they do not let passengers on. I spoke to Chris Gibb about this subject less than 12 months ago, and he said that if we had the platforms, those trains could take passengers on. The issue is something to do with the schedule for cleaning the trains.

[Norman Baker]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that information, which I was not aware of. I will investigate that to see whether it represents a way forward. My point, however, is that there is a potential trade-off between extra stops on the service and the speed of the journey between two key points where the main market is. In an ideal world, we would obviously like to meet both requirements—the local aspirations that exist, as well as the need to get longer-distance traffic transferred from air to rail—and journey times are key to delivering that. However, I will certainly look at his point, which is valid.

It is fair to say that the west coast main line is heavily used in the Carnforth area, with up to three long-distance services an hour between London, Birmingham or Manchester and Glasgow or Edinburgh, plus regular freight services. Those trains are already popular and well loaded. Capacity problems already exist, and growth in demand continues. Indeed, it is interesting to note that, even in the recession, we have seen buoyant markets for rail that have continued to expand at a time when other forms of transport have not seen the same response. Despite the £8.8 billion upgrade, the west coast main line is already suffering some congestion when it comes to access for freight services and local services, so we have to ensure that the line is used to best capacity.

Network Rail’s route utilisation strategy for the west coast main line was published on 1 July. It corroborates the heavy usage of the line and the resulting capacity issues, but as my hon. Friend said, it did not consider the reinstatement of the platforms at Carnforth. The Department’s analysis is that journey times would be increased by around five minutes to accommodate calls at reinstated platforms at Carnforth. That has to be borne in mind and weighed against the significant journey savings and more frequent services that have resulted from the upgrade to the west coast main line. London to Glasgow is now 30 minutes quicker than it was before the changes, with a very competitive four hour and 50 minute journey time, while trains from Manchester airport and Birmingham to Glasgow and Edinburgh are now around 20 to 30 minutes faster.

These enhancements have delivered significant revenue growth since December 2008 and increased rail’s share of the total travel market on the routes served by the west coast main line. These are markets rail serves well and there are strong calls for further journey time reductions, as my hon. Friend will recognise. All these and a number of other issues mean that stopping long-distance London services at Carnforth would probably involve a number of trade-offs that are less straightforward than might first seem to be the case. As I said, however, I will investigate the specific point that my hon. Friend raised with me and write to him about it subsequently.

Similar considerations apply to the other train services that operate on the west coast main line and might also be candidates for additional stops at reinstated platforms, such as the services currently originating in Birmingham and Manchester. It is already possible to travel direct between Carnforth and other stations to the south. This seems to imply that the main benefit of stopping non-London services at reinstated main line platforms at Carnforth would be to create new direct journey opportunities between Carnforth and stations to the north—including Oxenholme, Penrith, Carlisle and other northern destinations into Scotland.

As can be seen from what I have said today, nobody should underestimate the fact that reinstating the fast-line platforms at Carnforth station would involve more than some hard decision making. It is not simply a question of finding the money for the platforms, although I pay tribute to the tremendous spirit that my hon. Friend and his constituents are demonstrating in their willingness and determination to try to secure their reinstatement. Local funding is, of course, important for platform reinstatement, but it does not necessarily determine whether a future franchise would require trains to stop there. It is certainly a way forward and clear willingness has been shown to secure money for that particular end. Indeed, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, local people have already demonstrated what they can achieve with the improvements already made to Carnforth station.

Such local funding, if enough could be found to cover the potentially substantial costs, would reduce the initial financial burden. However, we would also have to ensure that the ongoing additional maintenance and renewal costs were covered. The next step for those in favour of reinstating the fast-line platforms at Carnforth would therefore be to identify how this reinstatement could be delivered and, indeed, funded in the longer term in respect of those additional maintenance and renewal costs. The Government believe that the local authority would also have an important role to play and we would wish to see whether it supported such a move as part of its transport strategy. Equally, it would be vital that there was clear support from a train operating company for such a move.

In conclusion, the Government welcome local initiatives to improve rail services as fitting their wider localism agenda. The Department is always very happy to provide advice and guidance, but we think that decisions such as this are best made locally. At the end of this debate, let me say to my hon. Friend that I recognise and sympathise with the case he has put. There are significant problems, which I have identified—stopping services and the penalty in journey times—but I will go back to my officials and raise with them one more time the points that he has raised tonight to see whether there is any way we can make any progress, without me making any commitments from the Dispatch Box tonight. I will write to him about both the general and specific points he has raised.

Question put and agreed to.

Local Sustainable Transport Fund

Norman Baker Excerpts

Tuesday 5th July 2011 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

I am pleased to announce that the Department is today awarding £155.5 million to support authorities in delivering local economic growth while cutting carbon emissions from transport.

The Department has received 73 bids to tranche one of the local sustainable transport fund from 66 lead authorities. All bids were for small projects requiring less than £5 million funding from DfT. Twelve bids were submitted as “key components” to large projects.

Proposals were assessed against the criteria as published in the “Guidance on the Application Process”, which was published on 19 January. Successful proposals were those judged to perform well against the twin objectives of supporting the local economy and facilitating economic development, and of reducing carbon emissions.

If proposals met these initial criteria, they were also scored on their potential to deliver wider social and economic benefits, to improve safety, to bring about improvements to air quality, or to promote increased levels of physical activity.

Proposals were required to demonstrate financial sustainability with benefits enduring beyond the life of the fund, to incorporate a credible delivery plan, and to include a commitment to make a local contribution towards the overall costs.

In line with the published guidance, an assessment of value for money was undertaken. The Department is confident that the overall package of proposals approved in this first round represents high value for money.

I have decided to fund 39 proposals in this round. Thirty-four proposals will be funded in full and a further five proposals will be funded in part. Thirteen proposals are considered to have potential when scored against the fund criteria, but in my view require further work. Their promoters will be invited to improve their offer and resubmit to the Department in February 2012, or to improve their offer in the context of their large project proposal, where this proposal is shortlisted. The full list of decisions is attached.

By the deadline of 6 June, the Department received 19 expressions of interest for larger projects (requesting between £5 million and £50 million funding from DfT). I intend to announce at the end of July the shortlist of those authorities invited to prepare a detailed business case for their proposal. Detailed business cases will be submitted to the Department by December 2011. The Department has received 41 expressions of interest for tranche two small project funding, for submission by February 2012. I intend to announce successful projects in this second round in the early summer of 2012.

I am very pleased that all eligible local authorities across England (with the exception of the Isles of Scilly) have now applied for funding to the local sustainable transport fund, either as a lead bidder, or as a partner authority to a large project. The fund has been well received by local government and I am confident that it will be effective in addressing the two key objectives of supporting growth and cutting carbon.

Kirkstall Forge Railway Station

Norman Baker Excerpts

Wednesday 29th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

I welcome the chance to engage twice in one week with the hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves), and I congratulate her on securing this debate. It is on a subject that is of great interest to her existing constituents and to those who may contemplate moving to the Kirkstall Forge area in the years to come, as well as to my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew) and others in the area.

I assure the hon. Lady and her constituents that the coalition Government have rail at the heart of their transport strategy. We recognise that railways can contribute fundamentally to the key overarching objectives of the Department for Transport, which are to foster economic growth and reduce the carbon emissions of the transport sector. The railways can also help to reduce our fiscal deficit, if the money is appropriately deployed. Given the significant pressure on public spending, we are determined to maximise the value of that expenditure, as people would expect.

Investing in our rail network will help to cater for the rapidly growing number of people making rail journeys in all parts of the country. Our rail network is essential in allowing millions of people to get to and from work every day, and in moving people around the country for business and for leisure or pleasure. Between 1994 and 2009, the number of miles travelled by rail passengers in Britain every year nearly doubled from 18 billion to 32 billion, and that growth shows no sign of slowing. It has been resistant to the problems in the economy of the last three or four years.

Transport did well in the comprehensive spending review, and over the next four years we will invest over £30 billion in transport projects across Britain, with £18 billion being committed to the railways. There is significant pressure on public spending, so we are determined to maximise the value of our expenditure.

The Government welcome the publication of Sir Roy McNulty’s independent study on rail value for money. The study found that although performance and safety have improved markedly over the last decade, our railways are 40% more expensive per passenger mile than those of our European competitors. The Government are considering the recommendations that are directed to them, and will deliver their response later this year.

In parallel, the Government are developing a wider rail strategy to ensure an affordable, sustainable, safe and high-quality railway that will deliver a better deal for taxpayers and for fare payers. That strategy will clearly set out the roles of Government, both central and local, of the train operators and of Network Rail in securing the future of the railway.

The Government have ambitious plans for investment in rail infrastructure and rolling stock. That is possible only because the Government have taken the tough decisions necessary to protect future investment in the UK’s rail industry. Over the next four years, we will provide £14 billion to Network Rail to support capital maintenance and infrastructure investment. We are funding and delivering the Thameslink programme, virtually doubling the number of north-south trains running through central London at peak times. About 600 new carriages will be provided for the Crossrail project, and up to 1,200 new carriages will be procured for Thameslink. A further 650 carriages will have been delivered to the network by March 2014.

On 1 March, the Secretary of State announced that Scotland, Wales and northern and south-west England are to get a fleet of new trains, and more reliable rail links to London. That will create thousands of jobs, boost the economy and improve services for passengers. He gave the go-ahead for the £4.5 billion intercity express programme and for the plans to electrify the Great Western main line between Cardiff, Bristol and Didcot.

Subject to consultation, the Government will proceed with plans for a national high-speed rail network, spending over £750 million during the period of the spending review. When complete, that will dramatically reduce journey times and increase capacity on routes between Britain’s major population centres; it will bring Birmingham within 49 minutes of London by rail, and Manchester and Leeds—the latter will be of particular interest to the hon. Lady—to within about 80 minutes. Connections to existing lines will also be included, allowing direct high-speed services to our major towns and cities. The capacity released on existing lines would allow an expansion of commuter, regional and freight services.

[Mr George Howarth (in the Chair)]

Order. I have been listening carefully to the Minister, and I realise that he is setting out the context of Government expenditure on transport. However, at some point soon he needs to speak on the specific subject of the debate, which is Kirkstall Forge railway station.

[Norman Baker]

Indeed, Mr Howarth. However, as the hon. Lady finished five minutes early, I have taken the opportunity to put the matter into the general context of our rail policy.

Suffice it to say that we are driving out inefficiencies on the railways and reducing costs. However, we are making what I believe is the biggest investment in rail, including in the Leeds area, that we have seen since Victorian times. That should give the hon. Lady some comfort. There is a hard-nosed economic and environmental case for investing in rail. I turn now to Kirkstall Forge.

A new station at Kirkstall Forge has been a high priority for Metro, the West Yorkshire passenger transport executive, for many years, and I know that considerable progress has been made towards achieving that objective. The coalition Government are committed to localism, and that determines our approach to local rail. We realise that local rail networks have to adapt in order to serve new and expanding communities, which is why we welcome PTEs taking the initiative. PTEs, working with local enterprise partnerships, where they exist, are best placed to identify the needs of local areas, and to identify and secure funding for new lines, new train services or stations, if they believe that that is the best way to meet local transport needs and the wider objectives of economic growth, housing growth and carbon reduction.

The development at Kirkstall Forge is a large one, and in the spirit of localism it is entirely right that Metro should take the lead in developing solutions to the transport issues that the development will give rise to. Metro has a good record in identifying sustainable transport solutions. For example, we welcome Metro’s and Leeds city council’s commitment to more sustainable solutions for the city region, as set out in the local transport plan 3, “My Journey”. We have backed their judgment by providing £12 million towards the cost of the Leeds station southern entrance, which will do much to improve access to new major housing and commercial developments to the south of the city centre.

The proposed Kirkstall Forge station will complement the A65 Kirkstall road quality bus corridor, to which the Department will be making a contribution of £19.8 million, and that is on track to open in 2012. It is a busy and congested corridor that is heavily used by commuters, so these two schemes will help to provide a sustainable alternative to car commuting.

The hon. Lady asked specifically about the shift from the car. The Department recognises, first, that we have to use transport to drive economic growth. Secondly, however, we have a responsibility to use transport in a way that reduces carbon emissions. We are certainly keen to secure a reduction in carbon emissions, and that could mean a modal shift from car to rail, particularly until the road transport network has been decarbonised, which is some way off.

Metro is seeking funding from the Department’s budget for local authority major schemes. The outcome of the spending review is testament to our commitment to such schemes. We recognise that well-designed proposals can make a big contribution to economic growth.

We plan to spend more on local authority major schemes in this spending review period than the average spend over the past 10 years. Nevertheless, that cannot fund all the schemes from the previous regional funding allocations process that promoters wished to deliver, and we will need to rationalise. Put simply, we inherited a completely unrealistic pipeline of schemes, and we have had to rationalise those as best we can. For the future, we want to move away from a top-down approach to determining local transport needs, working towards a more devolved system for funding local authority major schemes, with local enterprise partnerships taking on an important role. However, for this spending review, we need to rationalise the previous Government’s programme, so we have invited final bids from the promoters of 45 schemes from the previous programme. The Leeds rail growth package is one such scheme, and we believe it will now consist of new stations for both Kirkstall Forge and Apperley Bridge. Metro will submit a final bid in September to the Department, which we will consider alongside the others we expect to receive, including bids for maintenance for the Leeds inner ring road and the New Generation Transport trolley bus scheme, and will make an announcement in December 2011. I hope that that helps to confirm the timetable which the hon. Lady asked about.

Although I cannot indicate how successful the Leeds growth package bid might be, because it is a competitive process and obviously the bids are not in yet, we will look favourably on schemes for which promoters have reduced their funding requests to the Department. I can confirm that, and I note the comments that the hon. Lady made about increased private contributions. I am aware that a developer contribution has been secured towards Kirkstall Forge station and that Metro is scaling down the size of the bid by removing some additional car parking schemes at stations elsewhere.

In its bid, Metro will also have to demonstrate that the scheme provides value for money and that there is no ongoing cost to the Department arising from the stations’ introduction. That is an important point, as our policy is that new stations should cover their ongoing costs from newly generated fare income. However, I understand that Metro is confident that over time that will be achieved.

It is proposed that Kirkstall Forge and Apperley Bridge stations will be served by inserting calls in the services that run between Bradford Forster Square and Leeds stations, which have spare capacity to accommodate the new users from the stations. It is for Metro to discuss with Northern train operating company and Network Rail how those calls are to be accommodated within the timetable, given that the additional stops will increase end-to-end journey times by about four minutes in each direction. The good news is that we have recently agreed to fund the provision of additional carriages on the electrified routes to the north-west of Leeds, so Metro and Northern are now in a better position to determine whether further rolling stock will be required to enable the calls to be made.

I have tried to cover the points that the hon. Lady raised. She explicitly asked whether I would take into account wider economic factors in determining applications—yes, we will absolutely do that. The Secretary of State recently published a new transport business case appraisal system, which was announced to Parliament through a written ministerial statement. The hon. Lady may want to get a copy of that. She will be able to see the factors we now take into account to determine transport projects. Broadly speaking, the changes made to the valuation process have increased the value of carbon, so, on the face of it, they marginally benefit public transport schemes and marginally disbenefit road schemes.

The hon. Lady asked about private contributions to other schemes in the development pool. That information is simply not available yet, because we do not know what the final bids from the other schemes will be. The deadline for all bids is September, and obviously we will not be able to make a judgment until they all come in. I reiterate that private contributions are important. We are looking for buy-in, not only from the local transport authority, but from the wider community. Private contributions are therefore important, not simply to reduce the call upon the taxpayer, but to demonstrate commitment to the particular project for which an application is being made. In all the bids that come forward, we will be looking for details of private contributions, the support of the local community, and evidence that there have been sensible attempts to reduce costs wherever possible.

The hon. Lady appears to be confident that Metro has addressed those issues, and if it has, that will count in its bid’s favour, as and when it comes in.

[Rachel Reeves]

I welcome the answers the Minister has given.

To return to the wider economic benefits of the development, a point that I tried to get across was about deprivation in that part of Leeds West, particularly on the Hawksworth Wood estate—I mentioned the proportion of free school meals—and in Bramley, which has one of the highest proportions of young people not in education, employment or training. As well as the aggregate externalities and economic benefits that would come from the development, will the Department look at the importance of economic regeneration and how the returns in areas such as Kirkstall or Bramley might benefit some of the most deprived communities when compared with developments in areas where there are already good jobs and low levels of unemployment?

Norman Baker: As a Government, we recognise the need to support areas where there is economic deprivation. If we applied a simple economic test to everything, there would frankly be a lot of investment in south-east England, because it has a very good rate of return, and not a lot elsewhere. We do not do that. We try to ensure that we take into account a wide range of factors and ensure a modal balance of transport investment, as well as a regional balance. The hon. Lady is right to put those points on the record. They have been noted for when the Department considers the matter, as and when the bid comes in from Metro.

The Secretary of State’s approach to developing a package of bids to be approved has been successful in driving down costs on the bids that have been agreed so far. That has meant that the number of bids that have been able to be approved so far has been greater than if that discipline had not been applied. By driving down costs, we have been able to approve more schemes than would otherwise have been the case, so we have been able to make more progress than many dared hope given the unrealistic pipeline we inherited. That approach is not simply good value for money for the taxpayer, but helpful in spreading the money as widely as possible.

In conclusion, I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising the issue. I know that there is genuine concern in her constituency and others that the proposed station goes ahead without delay.

[Rachel Reeves]

I have some more questions before the Minister concludes. What is the total pot of money available for the 45 schemes that remain in the development pool? I recognise that due to savings and increased private sector contributions costs may have fallen since the projects went into the development pool, but how much were they worth then? What is the difference between the amount of money in the pool and how much the schemes were bidding for? Does he have that information?

[Norman Baker]

I am not sure that I can give that detailed information now, but I shall write to the hon. Lady. The amount of money available is about £700 million—that is a rough figure for her to consider. I will drop her a line to give her the specific information she asked about.

The debate has been useful. I look forward to receiving a final bid from Metro in September. It will be properly and objectively analysed according to the criteria that Metro has been notified about, which I have referred to today. Decisions will be made known to MPs and others in December.

Local Rail Services (Bristol)

Norman Baker Excerpts

Wednesday 29th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Charlotte Leslie) on securing this debate, and my hon. Friends the Members for Bristol West (Stephen Williams) and for Kingswood (Chris Skidmore) on contributing to it. The subject is important and timely.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West set out with great clarity the importance of the rail network in Bristol to the local economy, and how it can contribute to helping to address congestion problems in and around the city. She said that Bristol is the gateway to the south-west, and the Government fully recognise that in our planned investment in the inter-city rail network to Bristol. Indeed, it would not be possible to discuss local rail issues—I will return to them later—without referring to the significant developments that are planned for the network over the next five to 10 years, and which will transform Bristol’s links with London and the south-east.

The announcement that the Great Western main line between London, Bristol and Cardiff will be electrified has been warmly welcomed in the west of England, and I am pleased to hear hon. Members’ support for that project today. The line will be equipped with brand new inter-city express trains, and the current proposal is for four trains an hour to run between Bristol and London, two an hour via Bath and Chippenham and two an hour via Bristol Parkway. Those via Bristol Parkway will transform the links between the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West and London, given the proximity of Bristol Parkway station.

Both routes into Bristol will be electrified and, with electrification of the Severn tunnel route through to Cardiff, three of the local routes—Cardiff to Bristol, Bristol Parkway to Bristol, and Bath to Bristol—will be able to accommodate electric trains. There are no plans to electrify the line to Weston-super-Mare or the Severn Beach line. However, because some of the new inter-city trains will be bi-mode trains and able to run on electric or diesel power, some inter-city trains will continue to operate to Weston-super-Mare, as they do today, and will switch seamlessly—at least, I hope so—from electric to diesel power at Bristol Temple Meads.

Another recent announcement is significant for the area. The Secretary of State has announced that the Thameslink route through London will receive new rolling stock from about 2015. That means that, as far as Bristol is concerned, there will be a pool of electric rolling stock available to operate some Bristol area local rail services should the operator of the new Great Western franchise choose to use them. I realise that capacity is an issue. We are currently negotiating with First Great Western for provision of additional diesel carriages, but I cannot confirm at the moment when they will arrive or what the exact number will be. However, the prospect of electric trains will ease the position considerably.

I said that this debate is timely, and there are three reasons. First, detailed planning of the electrification scheme is now under way, and there may be opportunities to add to the scheme better to meet the needs of the local area if funding can be identified locally. Secondly, First Great Western has recently announced that it is taking up the option that the previous Government made available to it under the terms of the franchise of terminating it in 2013 rather than 2016. Therefore, detailed work will have to be carried out on the specification for the new franchise. Local authorities need to be ready to input into the process, and to discuss their ideas with bidders when they emerge in due course. For the avoidance of doubt, we welcome local people’s views of the new franchise arrangements which we are putting in place throughout the country. Thirdly, we are keen to explore the scope for devolving further aspects of rail to local authorities, and a good time to do so is when a franchise is due for renewal and the area is set to benefit from major investment.

The electrification scheme creates major opportunities for the local rail network around Bristol. Electric trains are cleaner, quieter and have better acceleration than diesel trains, so they are ideally suited to providing local rail services in densely used urban areas. The journey-to-work area in Bristol is expanding, as my hon. Friends know only too well, so now is the time for the local authorities to consider how the local rail network can be adapted to maximise the benefits of electrification. That may require some reconfiguration of local services, but the local authorities are well placed to understand passengers’ needs. For example, we are aware that the West of England Partnership is keen to see the local rail service extended from Bristol Parkway to Yate. We would welcome local input into matters such as whether a short extension of electrification from Westerleigh Junction to Yate would offer value for money. Likewise, new stations have been suggested for the Bath route, and now is the time for the partnership to consider such issues.

We are keen that proposals for infrastructure enhancement are robust and based on sound evidence. It is in nobody’s interest to promote unsustainable or undeliverable schemes or schemes that have little chance of securing funding. It is therefore important that work is undertaken to understand the viability of those options. I want to make it clear that the Government are pro-rail. We have a major programme of investment in the rail network. Indeed, it is reasonable to conclude without hyperbole that our rail investment programme is the biggest since the Victorian era.

In the Bristol area, the local authorities work closely together as the West of England Partnership. Although they are free to consider whether there might be benefits in forming an integrated transport authority—my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West referred to that, and some people believe that there would be significant benefits—it is not essential that they do so for the purposes of securing improvements or investment in local rail services. If local people want to consider forming an ITA, we will pay close attention to that. The partnership has a number of plans for rail, and there are no institutional barriers preventing them from achieving them.

We are keen to see the local authority partnership aligned with the local enterprise partnership, and together to play a leading role in determining the future of the local rail network. For example, that structure could deal with the safeguarding of Plot 6 at Bristol Temple Meads. The West of England Partnership already takes an active role in transport, and has established a rail protocol with train operators and Network Rail. I understand that the local enterprise partnership has plans for regeneration around Temple Meads station.

The West of England Partnership has created the concept of a Bristol metro network of regular-frequency local rail services, and has been very supportive of North Somerset council’s efforts to reopen the Portishead line. The next step will be to identify how those enhancements could be delivered and, more importantly, funded. The reopening of that line would require the reopening of passenger services on a freight-only line from Parson Street junction to Portbury junction, and the reinstatement of track from Portbury junction to a new station at Portishead. Our rough estimate is that reopening would cost £35 million to £40 million. Steps are obviously under way to make Network Rail more efficient, and to drive down costs, but that is our present estimate. Such a move would require the provision of new train services, perhaps every half hour during peak times and every hour off-peak. At the moment, that would need an ongoing subsidy, which is an important consideration when working out the economics of any reopening.

Reference was made to the possibility of reopening the line to passenger services between Avonmouth and Filton Abbey Wood. That would create a north Bristol circle line that would run from Temple Meads via Clifton Down to Avonmouth, and back to Temple Meads via a reopened Henbury station. I am sure that such a circle line would be more reliable than the one I use on a regular basis, which runs not far from this Chamber.

[Stephen Williams]

I share the vision of that north Bristol circle line with my hon. Friend and neighbour the Member for Bristol North West (Charlotte Leslie). It would also provide the opportunity for new stations along that route. My hon. Friend mentioned some stations that she would like in her constituency, and I will add Ashley Hill station to that list. It would be on the Filton Bank line and serve about 20,000 residents either side of where the station used to be—the platform is still there. It would also serve Gloucestershire cricket club and Fairfield high school.

[Norman Baker]

My hon. Friend has long campaigned very strongly on these issues and I welcome his involvement. Objectively, if we are to reopen a line it is a good idea to attract as many passengers as possible, and the provision of extra stations could be a useful way to achieve that. A cost-benefit analysis would be carried out for each station to look at whether reopening it would make sense to the project as a whole. My hon. Friend has given several examples of why he believes that would be the case for the station that he mentioned.

Although the line between Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol is intact, we would need to increase its capacity, and Network Rail is considering how to accommodate the extra trains. There would also be the question of how to serve the branch line from St Andrews road to Severn Beach. In the first instance, the West of England Partnership will determine whether that scheme should be a priority, although to date it has provided no indication that it would seek to explore that proposal, given that the Bristol metro and the Portishead line appear to be higher priorities. Hon. Members from the Bristol area may wish to pursue that point with the West of England Partnership. Bristol city council funds additional services on the Severn Beach line, which has contributed to a significant growth in the usage of the line. Perhaps that model could be employed elsewhere in the area.

Let me take the opportunity to congratulate the community rail partnership. It has done tremendous work in improving stations, promoting the network around Bristol and, importantly, involving local people in its schemes. That has produced a tremendous sense of pride and ownership in the local rail network. My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Transport recently visited the line and was impressed with the achievements of the community rail partnership. She was keen for me to refer to those achievements in my remarks today.

Conditions already exist for local authorities to take on greater responsibility for local rail services. The Department for Transport will be happy to discuss ways of achieving that with those local authorities, and help as best it can. As I have already mentioned, there may be scope to modify the electrification scheme to take account of local needs and aspirations, and as we have seen, local authorities are already able to finance rail services and schemes using funds available for local transport. We believe it is important that decisions on local priorities are made by local authorities rather than central Government, so there are currently no plans to establish a central fund for local rail schemes. Instead, local authorities should identify which local funding sources are most appropriate for a rail scheme, and decide whether such a scheme should have a higher priority than, for example, a highway or bus scheme.

Although the coalition Government’s current priority must be to reduce the budget deficit, we are making available a significant amount of money—£560 million—through the local sustainable transport fund. That is more money for local transport than was provided over the past four-year period, despite the difficult economic climate that we face. We are also making a contribution to the regional growth fund to enable some schemes to proceed before 2014. All that is in addition to the major local transport schemes budget, and in September the West of England Partnership will make five bids to the Department for schemes linked to the development pool. We will make decisions on those schemes around Christmas. The area has already had one scheme approved for the Greater Bristol bus network, which is nearing completion. The West of England Partnership has made a key component bid and a large project initial proposal to the local sustainable transport fund, and an announcement on the key component bid will be made shortly.

We will soon be consulting on a more devolved approach to major local schemes that will be in place from April 2015. Such an approach will provide the opportunity for groups of local authorities, working with local enterprise partnerships, to consider once again the transport priorities for their area that the fund might help to meet. That is particularly important for the reopening of the Portishead line, which has been frequently mentioned in this debate, through correspondence with the Department, and in other forums.

The aspiration is to reopen that line by 2017, but it is essential to first establish that that is the best way to meet the needs of the area and a priority for investment among other potentially competing claims. The local authority has carried out important work with Network Rail through the governance for railway investment projects process—GRIP. It also, however, needs to establish demand for the scheme and to demonstrate that there is a business case and that ongoing financial support is affordable. Initially, that must be demonstrated locally and not by the Department. We will respond to that local pressure.

To conclude, electrification brings opportunities for improvements to the local rail network around Bristol. There is an important role for local authorities, working together through the West of England Partnership, to carry on the good work and seize the initiative by taking advantage of such schemes. The Department will be happy to provide advice and guidance to hon. Members, councillors and others in the Bristol area, to ensure that people are able to maximise the opportunities in their area. Ultimately, however, it is for local people to lead on such matters, and the Department will have a supportive role.

Rural Bus Services (South Devon)

Norman Baker Excerpts

Tuesday 28th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) for arranging this debate and for packing a great deal into 16 minutes. I thank our quartet of Devon MPs for saying roughly the same thing about their bus services.

I know well from my constituency that buses are a lifeline for many people in rural areas, providing access to jobs, schools, health care and social activities and the rest. Good bus services contribute to the Government’s key transport priorities of cutting carbon and creating growth, not least by allowing access to employment opportunities. Other benefits of removing car traffic from our towns would include reduced noise pollution and improved air quality.

Because of the value that the Government attach to bus services, we are committed under the comprehensive spending review to continuing our financial subsidy of bus operators. It is worth pointing out that the many newspaper stories suggesting that the bus service operators grant would be cut altogether proved to be erroneous. We value the support that we give to bus companies and bus operators.

The bus service operators grant—the BSOG—remains untouched for this financial year. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes said, it will be cut by 20% from next April, thereby giving bus companies about 18 months notice of the change. Department for Transport calculations suggest that will bring about a change in fares of about 1%. Bus operators are on record as saying that the scale of changes and the notice that they have been given make them hopeful of being able to incorporate the change to the BSOG without affecting fares.

[Dr Wollaston]

Given the rurality of services in Devon, local experts in the county council estimate that for us the change would be between 1.5% and 2%.

[Norman Baker]

I hear what my hon. Friend says. The Confederation of Passenger Transport UK said that it was hopeful of incorporating the change without affecting fares or services; I hope that reassures her on that point. I shall deal in a moment with local tendered services, which I suspect are more of a problem for my hon. Friend’s constituents.

The Government are committed to reducing the budget deficit that we inherited, and every sector has to play its part in that. However, the Transport Secretary and I are determined that buses should continue to receive their fair share of funding. We want to encourage more people to use buses, and to make bus travel more attractive in whatever way we can, given the financial envelope within which we have to work.

The Government spend more than £1.2 billion a year on concessionary travel and bus subsidy in England, outside London, of which £15 million or thereabouts is spent in Devon. We remain particularly committed to the concessionary travel entitlement in England for the 11.5 million eligible older and disabled people. I hear my hon. Friend’s suggestion of introducing a small charge to help finances. I can only say that the Prime Minister has made plain the importance that he attaches to the present arrangements—that the concessionary travel arrangements continue to be free for those entitled to them. That obviously remains the Government’s policy.

My Department recently issued new guidance to local transport authorities to help them ensure that bus operators are reimbursed for carrying eligible passengers on a “no better off, no worse off” basis. My hon. Friend referred to the concessionary travel reimbursement arrangements, but the essential legislative requirement that bus companies should be no better off or no worse off has not changed. All that has happened is that the Department has issued new guidance to enable local authorities better to deliver the requirement. They are not obliged to follow that guidance, although they may do so if they wish; but they are obliged to comply with the legislation, which has not changed.

[Mr Sanders]

I raised this matter under the previous Government and suggested, through parliamentary questions, that the cost of a national scheme would be less than lots of local schemes. Will the Minister consider that as a way in which we can reduce the costs overall? It seems crazy that different local authorities pay different rates for the same service.

[Norman Baker]

There is a national arrangement in place in Scotland, which was considered. Responsibility was moved from district councils to county councils, which helped to bring some consistency to services and reduce some of the overheads. However, we have to balance that with our need to pursue a localism agenda, which both coalition parties firmly support. To have a national scheme would counter that and go against our direction of travel.

When the Department was considering the new guidance for the concessionary travel scheme, we took representations from the bus operators and local councils. I then personally amended the guidance to ensure that it reflected the particular challenges of operating in a rural area.

I recognise that the recent local authority funding settlement has been challenging and that in some areas, local councils have responded by taking the axe to local bus services. That badly hits rural areas such as Devon where supported services make up a much higher share of the total than in metropolitan areas. The formula of the Department for Communities and Local Government, which allocates money to local councils, incorporates a sparsity factor, which should help areas such as Devon. The Department is also committed, through the local government resource review, to looking at the entire way in which funding takes place and local moneys are raised from the local taxpayer, and that process is ongoing.

I am naturally concerned when I hear that vulnerable people with few other transport choices have lost their only bus service, or that children have reduced public transport access to the school of their choice. Those are serious and unwelcome developments. As my hon. Friend says, fewer than a quarter of all journeys in Devon are made on supported services. That means that more than three quarters are made on commercial services, which are unaffected by changes to council income or changes in council policy.

When difficult decisions are to be made on local bus services, I am clear that they should be made at a local level and not in Whitehall. The Government set out in the local transport White Paper their commitment to ending top-down decision making and one size fits all solutions. That means that we will see different decisions made in different places across the country depending on the priorities given by elected local members in those areas.

Some councils have taken an almost slash and burn approach to bus services, while others such as East Riding have percentage cuts in single figures. They have been more careful about making decisions that affect bus users. I note that Devon county council has cut its budget for supported bus services by 17% this year. In a consultation that it held called “tough choices”, which I welcomed, savings on bus services were one of the top three areas that were identified by 60% of those who responded. I accept the point that my hon. Friend makes that those who do not use buses will be more likely to identify them for cuts than those who use them. Nevertheless, it was an attempt by the county council to validate the decisions that we are taking, and that is entirely helpful. Other areas have consulted and reached different conclusions. Cornwall, for example, has chosen to keep its morning peak-time concessionary travel entitlement on a countywide basis.

It is up to Devon to prioritise its spending as it sees fit, and it is not for central Government to intervene in that matter. How much it spends on buses, roads and libraries is ultimately a matter for Devon county council. Rather than telling councils what to do, my focus instead is on encouraging bus companies and local transport authorities to work together to deliver improvements that make the bus a more attractive option. They need to improve reliability and produce smarter and more integrated ticketing—to which my hon. Friend referred—reasonable fares and understandable timetables. She will be aware that an application has been made to the local sustainable transport fund in respect of smart ticketing. Decisions on the outcome of that particular application will be made shortly.

I am also keen that local authorities make the most efficient use of their resources. It is a good idea that there is a maximum efficient use of the vehicles that a council may have. We still have cases in which there are adult social care vehicles in one box, public transport vehicles in another box and school buses in a third box, and they are all run by different departments of the council. These days, councils, which need to make efficiency savings, should eliminate those sorts of duplications and that silo mentality. I am not clear what the position is in Devon. I hope that it has identified savings such as that to be made. None the less, those sorts of practices can still be found in local councils up and down the country. Therefore, local councils have a job to do to ensure that they get the best value for money.

My hon. Friend also mentioned community transport. I accept that that is not a panacea for any reduction in bus services, but it can be a useful facility for particular individuals with special needs or for small communities where a bus service would not be practical. We are keen to build up the capacity of community transport organisations, which is why I recently provided local authorities with £10 million of extra funding. Devon county council was given a grant of £425,000 for that purpose. I was pleased to learn that the council has maintained its community transport budget in recognition of the important work that such organisations do at a local level.

I pay tribute to Devon Wheels 2 Work scheme. It is an excellent example of a not-for-profit organisation that provides vital links to education, work and training by loaning motorbikes and scooters at subsidised rates. Other examples can be found across England, and it is exactly the sort of grassroots activity that I would like to see more of and to encourage.

Let me now pick up on some of the points that were made. My hon. Friend made reference to route 111. As she will understand, I am not familiar with that route. However, it is a matter for Devon county council to judge whether or not it is one of the routes that it should support. It is sometimes the case that routes to hospitals are difficult to justify commercially. As people move in and out of hospital, it is difficult to build up a regular clientele for that particular service. It certainly seems that some people have been significantly inconvenienced by the withdrawal of that route, and I hope that she and her colleagues will be able to persuade Devon county council to think again.

As for the integration between the transport authority, Devon county council and the bus operators, I have noted my hon. Friend’s point about 56 days’ notice for changes. That is something that I am currently looking at. No decisions have been made, but it is something that is on the radar. It is up to Devon to decide whether it takes advantage of the terms of the Local Transport Act 2008, which facilitates quality partnerships or even quality contracts. If Devon wants to get more of a handle on bus services, there are powers in legislation available to use should it wish to do so.

My hon. Friend raised other matters that do not fall under the Department for Transport. She will be interested to know that the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning) is introducing proposals for HGV charging, which will, for the first time, capture foreign lorries in terms of what they have to pay to use our motorway network.

My hon. Friend seemed to want to go wider into road charging and almost edged into the Lib Dem manifesto from the last general election, but that is not currently Government policy. She also came up with some interesting ideas on red diesel and hypothecation, which are matters for the Treasury and not the DFT. However, her comments have been noted and I will ensure that they are passed on to the relevant officials at the Treasury.

My hon. Friend also raised an interesting idea, which has been around for some time, about out-of-town supermarkets. I can see why she has raised that matter, and I will make sure that her comments are passed on to colleagues at the Department for Communities and Local Government, who have the lead responsibility for that matter.

I do not have an answer on buses with bike racks, but I will drop her a line to let her know what the legal position is and how we view the matter. Finally, if my hon. Friend wants to bring up some of her constituents to discuss matters, I will ensure that a slot is made available in my diary for her to do that.

Question put and agreed to.