My Lords, the Minister is to be commended on having introduced these amendments. The points that have just been put forward by the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, are very important and should be considered seriously.
We still dare to talk about bus services as services. I do not understand how you can run an effective service if you are not making very specific arrangements for consulting the people for whom it is supposed to be a service on how they see and experience it, and on how it could be enhanced or changed as appropriate.
4.15 pm
If I have one doubt about the amendments, and I hate to have it, it is that experience too often demonstrates that these things can become a pretty hollow formality; they have to be done by officials but they do not really put their heart into them. In supporting the Minister, we should do our best—I am not sure how much effect it will have—to bring home that this is a serious provision: you are providing a service, and it is absolutely
essential that the people for whom you are claiming to provide that service have a real say in what they are experiencing and what should be done.