§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Transport if he will introduce legislation to amend the Transport Act 1962 in such a way as to provide for the publication by all Transport Users Consultative Committees of details of their working, including in particular how often they met, where they met, the duration of each meeting and the results of each meeting.
§ Mr. MarplesNo. Under Section 56 of the Act the Committees are free to determine their own procedure but they must hold at least two meetings a year and any oral representations about closure proposals which they decide to hear must be heard in public. Information about the work of the Committees is published in the Annual Reports of the Central Transport Consultative Committee and the Transport Users Consultative Committees for Scotland and for Wales and Monmouthshire. The handbook published by the Central Committee also gives much useful information. The26W Committees make suitable arrangements to keep the Press informed including as a general rule the issue of a Press notice at the time when they make a report to the Minister under Section 56(9) of the Act.
§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Transport if he will take steps to increase the representation of the county of West Sussex upon the Transport Users Consultative Committee for the south-eastern area, from the three out of 18 members, as at present, to at least four, to include a representative from the HenfieldSteyning-Bramber area.
§ Mr. MarplesNo. The members of Area Transport Users Consultative Committees are appointed in accordance with the provisions of section 56(2) of the Transport Act, 1962, which does not specify the direct representation of particular localities. But I always try to ensure that the membership of a Committee is drawn as widely as possible from different parts of the Area concerned.