Clause 3
Local Transport Bill [Lords]
12:30 pm
Stephen Hammond (Shadow Minister, Transport; Wimbledon, Conservative)
There is a final point on clause 2 that I had hoped that we would reach, but perhaps I will be able to weave it in later on.
Amendment No. 26 returns to the subject of proper consultation. The clause deals with the remit of the new statutory traffic commissioner and particularly with his powers to give guidance or directions. Subsection (4) of proposed new section 4C to the 1981 Act provides that the senior traffic commissioner must consult the Secretary of State, Scottish and Welsh Ministers, other traffic commissioners, local government and other operators, when issuing guidance. All of that is right. The requirement to consult local government was introduced in a Government amendment tabled on Report in another place, and from what we have heard this morning, we clearly welcome that. However, there is one obvious group of people missing from the list of consultees—the passengers. The Bill could establish a statutory body to represent passengers and the solution is before our eyes. Assisting the statutory new senior traffic commissioner would surely be one of the tasks for the new passenger watchdog so it should be one of the consultees.
Quite often it is argued that the Government will be consulting far and wide before any guidance is issued, and that there is no need to decide precisely on the face of the Bill who must be consulted. I understand the logic of that argument although in almost all cases I disagree with it, but in this case the Government have seen fit to write into the Bill a relatively lengthy list of required consultees. If the Government have decided to prescribe exactly who must be consulted yet there is no mention of passengers, that is a glaring oversight, despite the fact that we will soon have a passenger representative body.
I hope that the Minister will see that in this argument I am trying to be even more helpful than usual. If, as she said earlier, it is the intention of the Bill to improve bus patronage and the lot of passengers and there is an extensive list of consultees, surely passengers should be on that list. I look forward to the Minister either providing reassurance or, I hope, accepting our sensible amendment.