Clause 41

Part of Local Transport Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 12:45 pm on 6 May 2008.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Stephen Hammond Stephen Hammond Shadow Minister (Transport) 12:45, 6 May 2008

I beg to move amendment No. 231, in clause 41, page 36, line 13, at end insert—

‘(c) agreements between two or more local bus operators relating to bus services.’.

A large number of bus services up and down the country are being revised as a result of voluntary partnership agreements between a bus operator and the local authority. These are not statutory quality partnerships yet; they are not affected by those. As I have said many times, voluntary partnerships are the best way to move forward. We have seen a number of excellently performing bus services. Any provision that encouraged such partnerships would have the support of my party. For that reason, I welcome clause 41, as did my hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs. Villiers) on Second Reading.

Clause 41 addresses the scenario in which bus operators and local authorities want to form a voluntary agreement for the benefit of the travelling public but are constrained by competition law, going through some of the competition tests. While I understand and appreciate that there has been a huge amount of relatively extensive consultation on this matter, there are one or two things on which I wish to probe the Minister.

Schedule 2, which we will discuss later, introduces the new competition test. Any agreements that are subject to that competition test will become an exemption from the relevant elements of competition law. The purpose of the amendment is to explore further the issue that was raised in another place. Lord Berkeley tabled an amendment that would have extended the scope of the competition test such that it applied to agreements between two operators. In other words, it would have allowed two operators to have an agreement without being subject to some of the competition law and not have the involvement of the local authority if it were proven to be helpful to bus patronage. The gist of my amendment is not dissimilar.

There are situations in which operators might wish to enter into agreements relating to bus services that would definitely benefit bus passengers. An obvious example might be timetable co-ordination. If two operators were discussing something that could clearly be of benefit to passengers, that should not be hindered by competition law.

The clause was amended in another place by means of a Government amendment. That represented some progress. What I am unsure about is whether that amendment covers an agreement of the sort that I have mentioned. Schedule 10 of the Transport Act 2000, as amended by the Bill, sets out the competition test and its application to voluntary partnerships and other agreements. I would like to know whether the Government amendment covers two operators discussing something—particularly timetable co-ordination—that would be to the benefit of bus passengers.