Speeches by Lightwood.

“It comes down to the identification of socially necessary bus services, and the ambition of the BSIP in clearly articulating the vision there for bus services, and the development of bus services. Obviously, guidance dictates that you need to take into consideration the entire community, to make sure that there is a le…”

“Obviously, that is part of the work that we are talking about as part of the spending review; and, going backwards, this original formula is an interim formula. We are actively looking at how we continue to evolve it. That could be an area that we will explore as part of this.”

“Do you want to go into a bit more detail on the formula, Stephen?”

“Fundamentally, I want us to move away from the short-term funding models of the past. They created too much uncertainty and too many cliff edges. Obviously, future funding—here it comes—will be a matter for the spending review; I had to get it in somewhere. That will help us to review our goal to simplify, as I said, a…”

“We are not setting the definition of socially necessary bus routes. It is up to local areas to identify what they think is socially necessary in their communities, so it would be a difficult thing for us, but I take the point about whether there is enough funding to deliver that.”

“Often they do, but we have talked about different models of franchising, where urban routes can almost subsidise and help to balance—offset—the challenges in rural areas, because more profitable routes tend to be in urban areas, for instance. In franchising, you need to see the whole network, and that allows you to hel…”

“You could say that about any part of policy and investment in public services. Of course you would like to put more money in where you can, and as part of the spending review we are putting our bids in accordingly, but I go back to the point that this is not just about funding. It is about using the funding that is ava…”

“We are investing in terms of the bus grants to allow those local areas to invest. They need to decide what their priorities are in that area. They understand the social and economic challenges in their rea, to make those interventions work.”

“I do not think it is just about money. It is, as I said, about the powers and the partnership work that needs to take place as well.”

“It goes back to there not being a one-size-fits-all approach.”

“We are providing that funding through the bus grant. Obviously, you know that we have a challenging economic inheritance. Funding needs to be clearly value for money for taxpayers, but there is a finite resource that we are able to call on. It is about giving that flexibility. Also, not just with the bus grant and the …”

“They will need to set out what a socially necessary bus service is for their area, I guess, and the list would follow from that. It goes back to accountability and transparency about why those decisions have been made, and whether all possible alternative routes are considered if those are changed or cancelled.”

“Have we prescribed yet exactly how we—”

“We are not giving money specifically for socially necessary bus services; we are giving bus service improvement funding. It is a bus grant, so it can be used for whatever they see fit to improve buses in their community for passengers.”

“They are not, but we are giving them simplified, consolidated funding, and the powers and support needed to achieve that, which have not been there in the past and which has led to the erosion over time.”

“The direction of travel we are trying to move in is to give local areas the freedom to use the funding to achieve their objectives, rather than us putting barriers in the way.”

“No, I don’t think the new measure will have extra funding associated with it. LTAs and bus operators will include that process through existing mechanisms. The power in terms of grant making and the bus grants that we already provide to support the bus service improvement plans—the BSIPs—will enable that work to be und…”

“No. We will provide guidance to help them come up with their socially necessary criteria, but I think it is important that local areas are able to consider and detail what the socially necessary services are for their individual communities, and the individual challenges that they face. I can see the read-across there,…”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“I could see it being used for that. The criteria being used by local transport authorities when ascertaining what is a socially necessary bus service in their area would be very clear.”