HC Deb 08 March 1967 vol 742 cc1502-3
47. Mr. Rowland

asked the Minister of Transport what steps she now proposes to take to give local authorities the powers to make a contribution to private operated bus companies on behalf of concessionary fares for retirement pensioners.

Mrs. Castle

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friends the Members for Croydon, South (Mr. Winnick) and Bedfordshire, South (Mr. Gwilym Roberts), and the hon. Member for Mid-Bedfordshire (Mr. Hastings), on 25th January.—[Vol. 739, c. 1483.] I will make a further statement as soon as I am ready to do so.

Mr. Rowland

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the decision which some of us expected last year is now long overdue, particularly for those communities which lie outside such centres of population as Birmingham? Can my right hon. Friend say whether she will give this decision before or otherwise expedite the passage of the Private Member's Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, West (Mr. Bob Brown)?

Mrs. Castle

I am sure my hon. Friend will understand that this is a complex problem when one examines it, which we have been doing with the local authorities and bus operators. If we are not very careful, we may create new anomalies in trying to solve some of the existing ones which have caused so much anxiety among my hon. Friends.

With regard to the Bill to which my hon. Friend referred, I am sympathetic to its objects, but its details need careful thought. I am pressing ahead with a decision on my policy as quickly as I can.