To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many pensioners were in receipt of concessionary travel fares (a) in 1997 and (b) in the latest period for which figures are available. (308669)

The Department for Transport does not maintain records of how many people in local authorities are in receipt of a concessionary bus pass as concessionary travel is administered locally by Travel Concession Authorities (TCAs).

The last information held by the Department was that as of 17 April 2009, 7,883,897 of the new smartcard concessionary passes had been issued in England. This includes applications from disabled people as well as those aged 60 and over.