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Bus Services: Concessions

Volume 486: debated on Thursday 15 January 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have had with representatives of local authorities facing funding shortfalls for the national concessionary bus fares scheme; what such meetings are planned; and if he will make a statement. (247444)

To date, I have met Members of Parliament whose constituencies cover the following authorities to discuss funding of concessionary travel:

Scarborough Borough Council

East Riding of Yorkshire

Exeter City Council

Worcester City Council

In the coming weeks I am also due to meet with Members whose constituencies cover the following authorities :

Harrogate Borough Council

Fareham Borough Council

The Isle of Wight Council

Chesterfield Council

In addition to these authorities, departmental officials have either met or will shortly be meeting with representatives from the following local authorities:

Oxford City Council

Lancashire County Council

Bournemouth Borough Council

The Government remain confident that there is sufficient funding in total to meet the cost of the statutory minimum bus concession. The £212 million of extra funding that was provided to meet the additional cost of the extended concession is based on generous assumptions about fares, bus pass take up rate, extra journeys and additional operating costs. We will however continue to monitor the impact of the new concession.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) which local authorities have not received sufficient funding to meet their expenditure on the national concessionary bus fares scheme in 2008-09; and how much the shortfall is in each such case; (247445)

(2) what estimate his Department has made of the difference between funding and expenditure on the national concessionary bus fares scheme in (a) England and (b) each local authority area in 2008-09.

We are confident that there is sufficient funding in total for the statutory minimum bus concession in England. The bulk of funding for concessionary travel is still given to authorities through the formula grant process (Revenue Support Grant) but it is not separately identified within that block grant. It is therefore not possible to identify how much individual authorities receive specifically for concessionary travel.

An additional £212 million is being provided by special grant this year solely to pay for the extension of the statutory concession to cover England-wide travel. Again, we are confident that this is sufficient in total and we consulted widely on the formula used to distribute it. Data on changes in authority expenditure caused by the new concession will not be available until autumn 2009.

We will shortly be consulting on possible changes to how concessionary travel is administered and any changes may provide an opportunity to consider how best to distribute the totality of funding.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from the Local Government Association about the adequacy of funding for the national concessionary bus fares scheme. (247447)

Officials in the Department for Transport have had regular meetings with the Local Government Association (LGA) regarding concessionary travel. The LGA and representatives from other tiers of local government are present at regular meetings of the Department’s Concessionary Fares Working Groups.

I also met with David Sparks of the LGA on 13 January 2009 to discuss this issue.