Schedule 2
Concessionary Bus Travel Bill
4:45 pm
Stephen Hammond (Shadow Minister, Transport; Wimbledon, Conservative)
For my part, I can see the benefit of the amendment and I am grateful for the letter of explanation that we all received dated 23 May. There is one point, however, that I want to raise, on which I hope that the Minister will reflect. It is the illogic of what she has just argued considering the rejection of my amendment No. 19. If we were to change the wording of her letter to read “an authority running a local scheme can serve an operator with a participation notice”, TFL, running a local scheme, would be able to serve a London borough with a participation notice, yet in London there would be no possibility of appeal. We have just gone through that. The Minister accepted that my amendment, which would have given the London boroughs some appeal process, did not in any way affect the minimum guarantee. Although the amendment brings some consistency and order to the Bill, it highlights yet again the completely iniquitous state that London boroughs are left in.