Chamber
Plenary, 01 Jun 2005
01 Jun 2005 · S2 · Plenary
Item of business
Transport (Scotland) Act 2001
We hear a lot in the chamber about rail, but it is bus travel that is most important to Scots on a daily basis. Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders—an area with a population that is almost the size of the Highlands and which is a large swathe of the South of Scotland region that I represent—has four railway stations whereas the Highlands has 158. The bus is key to getting people to use public transport.
Through our mailbags, however, members are all aware of the problems of inadequate services, particularly in rural areas. I am thinking of people who are unable to go to events in town because there is no bus service home; people who lose their jobs because an irregular and unreliable bus service makes them late for work; and people who are unable to take up jobs because of the lack of a suitable service. If we are to tackle social exclusion in Scotland we must sort out the problems with our bus services, particularly those in our small towns and rural areas. That is not happening at the moment. We need to take a new look at how we organise and fund our bus services.
Prior to the publication of the Local Government and Transport Committee's report, Westminster's Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee came up with similar findings. It stated:
"The bus industry's approach to the use of quality contracts is entirely negative and unhelpful … the Department must continue to ensure that its bus policy is driven by the interests of the tax payer and the ticket holders and not just the shareholders."
The passengers of FirstBus in the Borders do not believe that that is happening. They share the problems that Margaret Smith identified in her area. We must sort out those issues. Sarah Boyack praised the information that is available in Edinburgh, but in Dumfries and Galloway we are still waiting—in June—for this year's timetable to be printed, because, we are told, of a lack of funding.
It is telling that the Local Government and Transport Committee report states:
"the Committee believes that there may be specific circumstances under which a QC would be the most appropriate option available to a council, and the option should therefore remain as part of the ‘toolkit'."
The report continues:
"the Committee welcomes the Minister's statement in a letter to the Committee that ‘operators must be prepared to put in place a full network that offers a service to passengers without always looking at the bottom line for a specific individual route.'"
I support Paul Martin's call for a degree of re-regulation and I ask the Scottish Executive to say whether it will consider that. The Executive seems to be refusing to re-regulate buses. The process of delivering quality bus contracts has been made so difficult and complex, with so many obstacles, that it is practically impossible to deliver quality bus services through that mechanism. Bodies such as SPT have suggested repeatedly to the Executive that buses should be re-regulated, yet there is still no experience of quality contracts from which to draw evidence.
Where do we go from here? The answer is clearly that there is much work to do and that it will cost money. The Green party has challenged the Executive's frequently stated claim that 70 per cent of transport expenditure goes on public transport. Given that the budget lists the road haulage modernisation fund as public transport expenditure, it is obviously open to ridicule. Further, the budget for the M74 private finance initiative will be spread over 30 years, rather than over the time in which the road will actually be built. The figures also include £150 million—almost 15 per cent of the total—for the integrated transport fund, which, according to a written answer that was supplied to me, cannot be defined by transport mode.
The Executive is short-changing public transport and buses are the poor relations of the public transport system. If the Executive is to solve the problems of social exclusion and mobility, it will have to fund our bus services, and regulate them more.
Through our mailbags, however, members are all aware of the problems of inadequate services, particularly in rural areas. I am thinking of people who are unable to go to events in town because there is no bus service home; people who lose their jobs because an irregular and unreliable bus service makes them late for work; and people who are unable to take up jobs because of the lack of a suitable service. If we are to tackle social exclusion in Scotland we must sort out the problems with our bus services, particularly those in our small towns and rural areas. That is not happening at the moment. We need to take a new look at how we organise and fund our bus services.
Prior to the publication of the Local Government and Transport Committee's report, Westminster's Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee came up with similar findings. It stated:
"The bus industry's approach to the use of quality contracts is entirely negative and unhelpful … the Department must continue to ensure that its bus policy is driven by the interests of the tax payer and the ticket holders and not just the shareholders."
The passengers of FirstBus in the Borders do not believe that that is happening. They share the problems that Margaret Smith identified in her area. We must sort out those issues. Sarah Boyack praised the information that is available in Edinburgh, but in Dumfries and Galloway we are still waiting—in June—for this year's timetable to be printed, because, we are told, of a lack of funding.
It is telling that the Local Government and Transport Committee report states:
"the Committee believes that there may be specific circumstances under which a QC would be the most appropriate option available to a council, and the option should therefore remain as part of the ‘toolkit'."
The report continues:
"the Committee welcomes the Minister's statement in a letter to the Committee that ‘operators must be prepared to put in place a full network that offers a service to passengers without always looking at the bottom line for a specific individual route.'"
I support Paul Martin's call for a degree of re-regulation and I ask the Scottish Executive to say whether it will consider that. The Executive seems to be refusing to re-regulate buses. The process of delivering quality bus contracts has been made so difficult and complex, with so many obstacles, that it is practically impossible to deliver quality bus services through that mechanism. Bodies such as SPT have suggested repeatedly to the Executive that buses should be re-regulated, yet there is still no experience of quality contracts from which to draw evidence.
Where do we go from here? The answer is clearly that there is much work to do and that it will cost money. The Green party has challenged the Executive's frequently stated claim that 70 per cent of transport expenditure goes on public transport. Given that the budget lists the road haulage modernisation fund as public transport expenditure, it is obviously open to ridicule. Further, the budget for the M74 private finance initiative will be spread over 30 years, rather than over the time in which the road will actually be built. The figures also include £150 million—almost 15 per cent of the total—for the integrated transport fund, which, according to a written answer that was supplied to me, cannot be defined by transport mode.
The Executive is short-changing public transport and buses are the poor relations of the public transport system. If the Executive is to solve the problems of social exclusion and mobility, it will have to fund our bus services, and regulate them more.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Trish Godman):
Lab
The next item of business is a debate on motion S2M-2854, in the name of Bristow Muldoon, on behalf of the Local Government and Transport Committee, on its i...
Bristow Muldoon (Livingston) (Lab):
Lab
In deciding on the Local Government and Transport Committee's work programme, members believed that it would be useful to undertake post-legislative scrutiny...
Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab):
Lab
I want to pick up on that point. I have travelled around the country and it strikes me that much of the soft passenger information is much better and that, a...
Bristow Muldoon:
Lab
I agree entirely. Ensuring that bus passengers and people who are not currently bus users have access to accurate information about timetables and real-time ...
That the Parliament notes the recommendations contained in the Local Government and Transport Committee’s 4th Report 2005 (Session 2):
Inquiry into issues arising from the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 (SP Paper 316).
Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP):
SNP
I was not a member of the Local Government and Transport Committee when it began its deliberations; I came in at the end. I convey the apologies of Bruce Cra...
Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP):
SNP
They are on the bus.
Fergus Ewing:
SNP
Brian Adam reliably informs me that they are on the bus.It is clear that quality contracts and quality partnerships are a solution that, when examined closel...
David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
This is the last time that I will speak in this Parliament, at least for a while, and I am very pleased to speak in this particular debate. For me, there is ...
Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab):
Lab
Will the member give way?
David Mundell:
Con
I will indeed.
Des McNulty:
Lab
Given that so many of his colleagues are in the chamber to hear him, I am sure that David Mundell's maiden speech as the shadow Scottish secretary cannot be ...
David Mundell:
Con
My committee colleague Paul Martin pointed out this afternoon that Mr Michael Martin and I are single-party House of Commons representatives from Scotland. T...
Paul Martin (Glasgow Springburn) (Lab):
Lab
I put on record my appreciation for the convener of the Local Government and Transport Committee, Bristow Muldoon, for his indulgence during the inquiry. Non...
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
Lab
We move to the open debate. I want to call as many back benchers as I can, so I ask for four-minute speeches.
Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP):
SNP
I tender my apologies for the discourtesy of not being in the chamber for the opening speeches. Regrettably, and as is often the case, my media interview did...
Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD):
LD
I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate, which is important, not least because it is David Mundell's last debate in this Parliament. He has cherry p...
Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab):
Lab
Sometimes we in the chamber congratulate ourselves on passing legislation, and we are right to do so. However, occasionally we should take a look at what has...
John Scott (Ayr) (Con):
Con
I am well aware that the fact that I was not a member of the Local Government and Transport Committee that compiled the report puts me at something of a disa...
Bristow Muldoon:
Lab
Will the member give way?
John Scott:
Con
I will do so in a moment.The Parliament should also note the National Federation of Bus Users written submission, which states:"the interest of bus users has...
Bristow Muldoon:
Lab
If the policies that have been pursued by the Executive and by the Labour Government since 1997 have been so wrong, why has bus patronage been rising consist...
John Scott:
Con
The change is due to the voluntary arrangements that have been put in place. It is certainly nothing to do with the quality partnerships or quality contracts...
Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP):
SNP
Much of what I will say concerns those areas of Scotland in which support from local authorities and from the new regional transport partnerships will be nec...
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green):
Green
We hear a lot in the chamber about rail, but it is bus travel that is most important to Scots on a daily basis. Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders—an area...
Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab):
Lab
I am grateful to members of the Local Government and Transport Committee for their work on the report. I am even more grateful to Sarah Boyack, who was the m...
Iain Smith (North East Fife) (LD):
LD
I am still slightly confused about where those 158 stations in the Highlands are. Perhaps I will have a look at my map later and find them. I am pleased that...
Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab):
Lab
As Des McNulty said, the importance of the report is that it attempts to monitor the implementation of previous legislation. When the other Deputy Presiding ...
Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con):
Con
I agree with other members of the committee who worked on the report that the clerks, parliamentary staff and those who gave evidence contributed in importan...
Bristow Muldoon:
Lab
Will the member give way?