§ Dr. MarekTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list(a) the members of the bus working group, (b) its terms of reference, (c) the number of meetings it has held and (d) the reports it has produced; and if he will place copies of its reports in the Library. [10271]
§ Mr. WattsUnder my chairmanship, the bus working group comprises representatives from the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the Joint Local Authority Associations and the National Federation of Bus Users. In addition to the senior traffic commissioner and officials from the Department of Transport and the Scottish and Welsh Offices, who also attend meetings of the group, the following attended the most recent meetings, held on 19 September:
Local authority representatives
- Councillor M. Dowd
- Councillor J. Lingard
- Mr. D. Bannerman
- Mr. R. Bristowe
- Mr. J. Carr
- Mr. V. Christie
- Mr. B. Dobbs
- Ms A. Livesey
- Mr. K. Manton
- Mr. P. Morgan.
Confederation of Passenger Transport
- Mr. T. Smallwood
- Mrs. V. Palmer
- Mr. D. Flower.
National Federation of Bus Users
- Dr. C. Cahm
- Mr. J. Cartledge.
The group has no formal terms of reference. Its remit is to examine ways of improving the provision of bus services within the privatised and deregulated framework.
659WThe group has met five times since it was re-established in its present form last year. In addition, there have been a number of meetings of four sub-groups.
My predecessor as chairman, the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mr. Norris), reported on the group's work in a press statement on 8 January. More recently, the group has worked up a guide to good practice in the provision of passenger information, which was published by the Department in September. Copies of both documents have been placed in the Library.