Speeches by Mayer.

“That is buses. What about trains and coaches?”

“When you say that there may be some impact next year, what do you think that might look like? Is that likely to look like higher ticket prices, reduced service levels, or the need for more subsidy? Have you given that thought yet?”

“That covered buses and trains. What about coaches?”

“Moving on to local authority bus grant formulas, we think that you adopted one of the Committee’s recommendations and included rurality into the new formula. Obviously that is alongside various other things such as deprivation, size and so on. Is there any way of finding out if any local authorities have received highe…”

“When we were taking evidence about the integrated transport strategy, we heard that the other cost of living measure for transport—the £3 cap—was actually in contradiction to having an integrated transport policy according to the person who was giving the evidence because it was one form of transport only. Do you see a…”

“Yes, and if you change from a bus to a train it does not help you at all.”

“Continuing with the theme of rising diesel fuel prices, has the Department made a formal assessment of that impact on train, bus and coach operators?”

“You have mentioned the August scheme for free bus travel for young people as a cost of living measure a couple of times. Is this just a cost of living policy or is it a transport policy as well?”

“Alan Milburn’s recent report on people not in education or training suggested that one barrier for some young people getting there was transport and that actually reduced costs on public transport could well help them. Are you having any discussions with the Treasury whereby reducing costs for young people might actual…”

“FMC and Dynamic Metals, both of which are in my constituency, have no alternative but to import specialist steel, because if it is not made in Britain, they cannot buy in Britain. What message does the Minister have for those businesses, and will he look at changing harmonised system codes so that customs can better di…”

“Residents in Fossett Grove have been battling for 10 years for the adoption of a piece of land that is strewn with litter. Elsewhere in my constituency, roads are not gritted during the winter months, in Bidwell West we have an area where they cannot get a post box and, where a car crashed into a house, we cannot get a…”

“9. What steps his Department is taking to expedite road adoption.”

“Michael, you were talking before about Nottingham, and you used the phrase “strong political leadership,” which had allowed the workplace parking levy and then an integrated transport system. Do you think there is a danger that we conflate strong and stable in the sense that there are quite a lot of places—I would prob…”

“Do you think that the strategy supports the technological innovation and interoperability needed specifically for integration?”

“Richard, you talked about mobility hubs. The concept is great, but the term is terrible. Do you have any more detail on how you think this approach could improve integration?”

“Thinking about the rest of the country, do you think the strategy is overly focused on city regions? Is there enough in there about how to achieve integration in more rural areas or market towns?”

“It is fundamentally all public money.”

“The strategy says that the Government will “research into the barriers to, and benefits of, Mobility as a service.” In answer to various parliamentary questions, the Government have said that they have no comprehensive list of mobility as a service apps at the moment, or a sense of how much public funding is being spen…”

“What stops you from doing that?”

“Does anyone else want to answer that?”