Passengers’ Council (Non-Railway Functions) Order 2010

My Lords, I am grateful to both noble Lords who have contributed to our short debate. This is an opportunity for me to pay tribute to the work of the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, as chairman of the Bus Appeals Body. I shall attempt to answer the questions from both noble Lords. We should remember that something like 4.7 billion bus passenger journeys are made each year. But, unlike rail passengers, bus passengers do not have a statutory watchdog. The consultation on bus passenger representation started in 2007. It showed clear support for a publicly recognised statutory body to represent the interests of bus passengers and provide them with a visible and influential voice. I will provide to the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, details of that consultation and I can answer the point about who took part in it. As the noble Lord said, Passenger Focus is a respected watchdog and has a strong reputation for representing rail passengers. The predominant view was that its remit should be extended to cover buses and coaches in addition to its rail functions. The consultation responses suggested that tram passengers might also benefit from statutory representation. So we took powers in the Local Transport Act 2008, under which the Secretary of State could extend the remit of Passenger Focus, through secondary legislation, to bus, coach and tram services and facilities in England. In 2009, we carried out a further consultation on the detail of the draft order we have considered today. It also sought views as to whether Passenger Focus should represent tram passengers. The proposals were well received and there was clear support for the proposition that tram passengers should benefit from the same representation as rail and bus passengers. The draft order we have considered is needed to confer statutory duties and obligations on Passenger Focus in respect of bus, coach and tram matters. It would also set out the responsibilities placed on others in terms of how they respond to Passenger Focus. The draft order also makes a number of minor changes to the constitution of Passenger Focus to reflect its widened remit. The noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, asked me about the composition of Passenger Focus. The intention is to increase the number of members to 14. The two additional members will have a wide remit like the others. No one will be a specific representative of one section or another. She also asked about the costs of Passenger Focus. It is funded by the Department for Transport. Its budget for 2009-10 is £7.6 million, of which more than one-third is spent on research. In 2009-10, £6 million will be spent on the railway, £4.8 million on railway representation, and £1.2 million on the national passenger survey. The intention is that bus and coach funding will cost £1.5 million, and an additional £100,000 will be spent on the mystery traveller survey. The total amount of bus and coach funding is therefore £1.6 million, making an overall total in 2009-10 of £7.6 million. The figure for 2010-11 is £8.7 million. The sum of £1.6 million is being spent on bus and coach work in the current year to enable the necessary structures to be put into place to represent bus and coach passengers effectively from April 2010. That obviously anticipates parliamentary approval being given for this secondary legislation. The Department for Transport is satisfied that Passenger Focus can take on the necessary preparatory work on bus and coach issues, in co-operation with the department, using existing powers under Section 76 of the Railways Act 1993, which confers a duty on Passenger Focus to co-operate with other bodies that represent the interests of users of public passenger transport services.