§ Mr. Damian GreenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what activities have been undertaken by the Bus Partnership Forum; and how often it has met in each year since its creation. [171938]
§ Mr. McNultyI Chair the Bus Partnership Forum, which brings together senior representatives of the bus industry and local government, and first met in July 2002. Since then the Forum has met a further three times, January and July 2003 and on 23 February 2004.
Through the work of a number of task and finish groups and the official level steering group, the Forum is tackling problems that may hinder further growth in the industry and is identifying practical solutions. Achievements to date include:
publication of a report on understanding customer needs;agreeing a code of practice on service stability (limiting the number of timetable changes made per year) for local implementation;publication of a CD-ROM resource pack on bus priorities;publication of model agreements on joint ticketing schemes as a way of encouraging further schemes;and commissioning the first national survey of bus punctuality, with a view to establishing realistic standards and targets.Further work is in progress on performance monitoring and integrated ticketing and a report on innovative transport and social inclusion issues is due in the summer of 2004.
§ Mr. Damian GreenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the(a) expenditure and (b) administration costs of the Bus Partnership Forum were for each year since 1997. [171972]
398W
§ Mr. McNultyThe forum was established in July 2002. The cost of administering the Forum is negligible and is met from the existing budgets of the constituent organisations. No additional public expenditure has been incurred from the work of the Forum over and above that already planned for in existing research and consultancy programmes.