Clause 13
Local Transport Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
John Leech (Shadow Minister, Transport; Manchester, Withington, Liberal Democrat)
Clause 13 is crucial and these amendments are very important in determining whether or not the Local Transport Bill will be a success in improving bus services. I had intended to give a personal example from my constituency about why effective quality partnerships were important but, given the length of the debate so far, I have decided not to so that my remarks can be briefer.
Deregulation of the bus services in the majority of the country has been a complete and unmitigated disaster. It has been about putting profit before passengers, which is why statutory quality partnerships and quality contracts are so essential in areas where bus companies are not willing to work with local authorities to get the best deal for passengers.
Quality partnerships and quality contracts must be workable, and bus operators should not be able to veto reasonable schemes. Existing legislation has made it almost impossible to introduce quality partnerships and quality contracts and, as the hon. Member for Manchester, Blackley said, only one has been set up since it was put in place. Amendment No. 89 would remove the ability of bus operators to make an admissible objection to a statutory quality partnership that covers maximum fares, frequency and timings. It has been tabled because there is a clear desire to protect the interests of passengers and the right of local authorities that have made significant investment in transport infrastructure to demand a certain standard of service from operators of bus services within their area. In my constituency, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent on creating a quality bus corridor but, unfortunately, no bus operator is prepared to run a quality service along that route.
Ideally, local authorities would engage with bus operators at an early stage of planning before publishing a proposed scheme. That would give operators an early opportunity to offer input to the feasibility and acceptability of a scheme and therefore help to minimise the number of situations in which a bus operator later felt compelled to submit an admissible objection. Operators should have a right to object. That said, not all objections should be of sufficient weight and importance to impede a statutory quality partnership that specifies frequency, timings and maximum fees.
It is therefore important that the definition of what constitutes an admissible objection and a relevant operator is worded tightly under the regulations to ensure that it cannot be abused by operators who do simply do not wish to be constrained by the requirements of a reasonable quality partnership. A watertight wording is also in the interests of operators who need to know that, when they genuinely need to object on commercial grounds, they can do so. Whatever side of the divide we fall, the need for clarity and certainty in such matters is paramount. The uncertainty of whether there will be legal action needs to be eradicated as much as possible.
We also recognise that operators must have a voice with which to object to unreasonable demands from local authorities. We are particularly keen to ensure that the Bill does not harm small, family-operated bus companies in rural areas, for example, that provide a basic but well-run service that meets local needs by subjecting them to compliance with such grand demands such that a quality partnership might price them out of the market. I was glad to have reassurance from the Minister that that has been taken into consideration, and that the matter is not about ensuring that only large bus companies can enter quality partnerships and object to them.
Given our worries about small operators, we added our support to amendment No. 94 under which an admissible objection would be restricted to matters dealing with the undermining of the commercial viability of existing local services being operated in the area to which the proposed scheme would relate. It would mean that, if a relevant operator who was running an existing scheme was unable to provide services to the standard specified in the quality partnership on a commercially viable basis, it would constitute an admissible objection. We want the Government to clarify in which circumstances they envisage that would be the case. Would it apply in subsidised service agreements under which the local transport authority provides a subsidy to an operator such that they can reach the standards specified in the scheme or might there be other circumstances in which bus operators would not be allowed to object?
The recently published draft regulations specify that an objection from an operator must be made in writing to the local authority within four weeks of the publication of the notice and launch of the consultation on the scheme. It is then for the local authority to request further information from the operator if needed and to determine whether an objection is admissible. The guidance is clear that an objection for an operator to an authority must give a full statement describing the basis of an operator’s objection, and include evidence as to why the operator believes that the grounds for the objection are satisfied.
In order to prove that a service cannot be provided in a commercially viable way, would the operator have to pass commercially confidential information to the local authority? That appears to be the case, but, should the local authority decide the objection is not admissible, and should the bus operator subsequently refer the matter to the traffic commissioner, the guidance states that, where the commissioner has to make a determination as to whether the commercial viability ground has been shown, the commissioner may seek the advice of an expert assessor. That is provided for by Government amendment No. 81.
Indeed, when the Bill was in Committee in the Lords, Lord Bassam of Brighton said that the traffic commissioner would have to certify the evidence submitted by the relevant operator. How does that work if the local authority takes a decision? Does it also have powers to certify an operator’s evidence? We are not clear about what access, if any, the local authority has to commercially confidential information—which may be objectionable to operators—or whether, in the case of objection on the ground of commercial viability, the local authority would be able to take an informed decision and therefore have to lengthen the admissible objections procedure, simply to refer the matter back to the operator and on to the traffic commissioner and assessor for determination.
The Government acknowledged in Committee in the House of Lords that the sharing of commercially confidential information and its coming into the public domain was a complicated issue and that admissibility would depend on exactly what was submitted. Further details of what exactly might be submitted and who might see it are urgently required, together with further clarification of the procedures, particularly with regard to objections on the basis of commercial viability, if the Committee is to be able to scrutinise this part of the Bill effectively.