Clause 7 - Provision of public passenger transport services
Transport (Wales) Bill
12:15 pm
Nick Ainger (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Office of the Secretary of State for Wales; Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, Labour)
Amendment No. 7 would include sustainability as one of the factors the Assembly would have to take into account in exercising its power to secure public passenger transport services under clause 7. The amendment is not required. Sustainability is already explicitly included in the general transport duty of clause 1 as a principle to be applied by the Assembly when delivering transport policies. This is one of the amendments made to the draft Bill following the pre-legislative scrutiny.
The duty on the Assembly, under section 121(1) of the Government of Wales Act 1988, to make a scheme setting out how it proposes to promote sustainable development in the exercise of its functions applies to clause 7, as it applies in relation to all the Assembly’s other functions. In addition, the Assembly would undertake a strategic environmental assessment as part of the process of drawing up the Wales transport strategy.
Amendment No. 8 would insert into the Bill a requirement on the Assembly to consider the cross-border issues and the wider transport network across the UK in the exercise of its power to secure public passenger transport services. That seems in direct conflict with amendment No. 1 to clause 1, tabled by the hon. Member, but we will let that pass. The transport network in Wales is part of the wider UK network and such issues cannot be ignored when considering the need for additional passenger services in Wales. However, clause 1 already requires the Assembly to consider cross-border issues in the exercise of its statutory general transport duty in the development and implementation of its transport policies. The amendment is therefore unnecessary. We debated the issue on amendment No.1. As it adds nothing to the provisions already contained in the Bill, I ask the hon. Gentleman to withdraw the amendment.