§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government: Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Davies of Oldham on 17 May (WA 68), when, following consultation, they will change the implementation period of a quality contract; whether this change will be implemented by order of primary legislation; and whether further guidance will be issued. [HL3516]
§ Lord Davies of Oldham:The Government are considering the responses they received to their consultation on the proposal to reduce the 56WA implementation period for bus quality contracts, and will be announcing the outcome shortly.
The Transport Act 2000 provides that the implementation period for quality contracts, which currently stands at 21 months, may be varied by means of an order made under that Act.
The Department for Transport issued draft guidance on quality contracts to all stakeholder representative organisations on 29 June. The draft guidance covers the procedure to be followed in applying for a quality contracts scheme, the supporting evidence required and the matters that would be taken into account in deciding whether to approve an application, including appraisal of the public interest. Recipients have until 1 October to comment on the draft guidance.