My Lords, I shall take Amendment 111A first. It would require the traffic commissioner to take account of relevant information provided by a local authority when deciding whether to accept an application to register a service in an enhanced partnership area.
First, I assure the noble Lord that local authorities have an opportunity to provide such information about every application to register or vary a local bus service, whether in an enhanced partnership or not. This is because the traffic commissioner is obliged, under existing legislation, to seek views from the relevant local authority about the proposed registrations of all local bus services.
In general, this is to ensure that important matters, such as whether the vehicles proposed to be used are suitable for the roads they will operate on, can be fully addressed. In the case of enhanced partnerships, this already affords the local authority an opportunity to determine whether the proposed registration meets any requirements imposed under an enhanced partnership scheme.
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I turn to Amendment 111B. The regulations under new Section 6E(8) of the Transport Act 1985, as inserted by Clause 12(3) of the Bill, are a little complicated. The section applies where there is a restriction on the number of buses that can operate along a particular bus route. That might be, for example, no more than six buses an hour each way. Where the existing operators on a route can agree among themselves to abide by this restriction, they can register their individual local services with the traffic commissioner without any further intervention. The problem arises where they
cannot agree among themselves to meet this requirement. If this lack of voluntary agreement results in the local transport authority being forced to choose which operator should be allowed to register services, current European law requires that there needs to be a tendering exercise. That is because, in choosing which operator is successful, the local authority would be granting an exclusive right to run that service.
I realise that the requirements of EU law will now be considered in the light of the referendum result, but in the meantime we continue to abide by it. However, I agree with the intention behind the noble Lord’s amendments. Where a traffic commissioner must decide whether to accept or reject an individual application to register a local service under this new section, it is important that the traffic commissioner takes into account all relevant evidence, including anything provided by the local transport authority. I assure the noble Lord that nothing in this section of the Bill prevents them doing so. In view of the explanation that I have given, I hope the noble Lord is minded to withdraw his amendment.