My Lords, once again, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this debate. The noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, introduced the amendments by saying that she was finding living with “may”s a little challenging. I for one can say that it may be a good thing if we are living with “may”, but time will tell.
There is an important distinction to be drawn between “may” and “must”. The Bill sets out a range of standards of service that may be included in an advanced quality partnership scheme. However, it is for individual local authorities to decide what standards of service to
introduce as part of such a scheme. The intent behind introducing an AQPS is to provide flexibility, because the standards introduced will depend entirely on the local bus market and the needs of existing and potential bus passengers in an area. Amendment 8 would remove this flexibility. Local authorities would be compelled always to impose all the standards of service specified under new Section 113E(5). This is not a desirable approach, as some of the standards may not be appropriate in all circumstances. For example, the provision of information about bus services to passengers may already be perfectly adequate in an area that is proposing to introduce such a scheme. The amendment would also require the imposition of maximum fares even if a local authority considered such a move unnecessary. It is also worth bearing in mind that some requirements, including maximum fares, can be included in the scheme only if there are no admissible objections from any relevant operators. This is provided for in new Section 113E(7). If there were a requirement for a scheme to include maximum fares, each operator in the area would hold an effective veto over the introduction of the whole scheme.
There is another reason to be cautious about the amendment. In a deregulated market, there is no obligation on bus operators to run services that they do not wish to run. Local bus operators may not be prepared or feel able to run on a commercial basis services that comply with those requirements and may simply choose to withdraw them. If accepted, the amendment therefore runs a serious risk of undermining or even removing the viability of many existing and future schemes.
7.15 pm
I do not believe that Amendments 15 or 17B, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, and the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, respectively, would enhance the Bill. New Section 113E sets out what standards of service can be specified in an advanced quality partnership scheme. Requirements as to emission standards of vehicles and the frequency or timing of services are included in subsection (4). Requirements regarding ticketing are included at subsection (5)(b). If these standards are specified as a part of the scheme, they will have to be included in the notice.
New Section 113H also sets out the aspects of the scheme which must be specified when it is made. Requirements regarding the standards of services are included in subsection (2)(c) and requirements regarding registration restrictions are included in subsection (2)(d).
On Amendment 13A, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, she knows that I sympathise with its aims and I know that buses can act as a lifeline to many, particularly younger people, although I disagreed with her slightly when she said that the amendment would stop people wanting to invest in their first car. I think we were all there once; it was one of those exciting things that we all chose to do and it was infinitely more exciting than taking the local bus, even though it might get there more quickly and efficiently. I am aware that a range of existing offers across the country provide young people with discounted travel and we will look to ensure that good practice is shared. The noble Baroness spoke about how we might
share such good practice and I am open to suggestions as to how we can reflect it in some of the work that we are doing. I understand the importance to young people of affordable, accessible local transport. We will encourage the bus industry to improve its offers for this group. However, I would not want to tie the hands of local authorities looking to establish advanced partnership schemes, as a mandatory youth concession would of course bring with it significant costs for local authorities and bus operators.
The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, proposed Amendment 54A, which would require a franchising authority to set out the minimum standards of service and minimum frequencies of services when they made their franchising scheme. I agree entirely that a franchising scheme should set out the frequency of bus services to be provided under it and hope that I can reassure the noble Lord that the Bill already addresses this issue. If an authority chooses to move to a model of franchising, the scheme will have to specify the local services intended to be provided under local service contracts. I would expect the specification to include the routes, frequencies and standards of services, and aspects such as livery and tickets available. I sympathise with the noble Lord’s concerns relating to the need to set minimum standards of service and minimum frequencies when making the franchising scheme. We aim to address this further in the guidance that we develop to complement the Bill, as I agree that it will be important for service standards to form part of the franchising scheme.
The noble Baroness, Lady Jones, asked about the review of concessionary fares. The review is looking at the statutory reimbursement structure of the national scheme, but we have no intention of introducing new national concessions. She asked whether issues of young people would be looked at in the review. I shall take that question away and confirm whether it is the case. I hope this discussion has reassured noble Lords that I am sympathetic to their concerns and that they will agree not to press their amendments.