Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an estimate of the potential cost to extend entitlement to free travel passes to women born in the 1950s who have yet to reach state pension age.

In addition to providing support to those with a disability, the original intention of the English national concessionary bus pass scheme was to help people maintain their independence in retirement. Concessions are therefore not aimed at people considered to be of working age and in April 2010 the concession was specifically aligned for both men and women to the Department for Work and Pensions’ State Pension Age.

Local authorities have the discretion to offer concessions over and above the statutory minimum to their residents as they see fit.