HC Deb 19 December 1984 vol 70 c180W
Mr. Caborn

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria can be used by local authorities to determine the scope for and scale of bus services which cannot be provided on a commercial basis if the policy outlined in the "Buses" White Paper is applied.

Mr. David Mitchell

The Government propose to give local authorities powers to subsidise any bus service which they believe socially necessary but which is not provided commercially. It will be for local authorities to decide within their overall financial constraints which services they wish to support.