Hansard

I might have done that if I had not been intervened on so much, so I am happy to get to that point.

Some of the coverage in the papers has been disappointing. For example, an invitation from CPT to hold a bus summit in 2011 was presented as my summoning the organisation to attend a meeting to discuss bus policy.

There have been reasonable and moderate changes to the calculation of the bus service operators grant. To come back to the point that Kezia Dugdale mentioned, there have been substantial effects, particularly in East Lothian and Midlothian. To that end, I have been happy to meet with Unite, representatives of which are in the gallery today. I met them inadvertently this morning, but I also met them yesterday and on previous occasions, and we have had constructive and positive discussions. It is up to Unite to say what it believes, but I believe that it is a commonly accepted fact—First itself has said so—that the issues that we are dealing with are to do with the way in which those services were run over a number of years, not the fact that, in the past two weeks, a new BSOG regime has been brought in. I am not saying that First is happy about the changes to the grant, but it acknowledges the other factors that impact on the situation, not least the United Kingdom Government’s proposed further increase in fuel costs later this year. An increase of 57 per cent in diesel costs will be hard for any company to cope with.

I have discussed the issue twice with Paul McLennan, the leader of East Lothian Council, who contacted me as soon as the announcement was made. I met him during the bus stakeholder group meeting and have spoken to him since then. East Lothian Council has also had a summit with the bus companies. To come back to Kezia Dugdale’s point, an assurance has been given that not one community in that area will go without a bus route. I have not heard the same representation being made by Midlothian Council, but I have said to Unite that I am happy to work with Midlothian Council and East Lothian Council on the issue. It would be productive if they worked together.

I have heard from local MSPs, such as Christine Grahame and Colin Beattie, and I have seen Iain Gray’s motion, although he has not yet spoken to me directly about the issue. We are keen to do what we can. I have said that the officials in Transport Scotland will provide every assistance to the councils in their efforts to ensure that they can backfill those services, by whichever means.

I have never said that we could not regulate in Scotland. If Elaine Murray goes back and listens to “Call Kaye” again, she will realise that I was speaking in an entirely different context. It is possible to regulate. As we see in Lothian, it is possible for a successful bus company to run at arm’s length from the council. There are possibilities and we will work constructively in that regard. That is what we have to do in Government in the real world. We cannot just make promises worth £1 billion-plus, which nobody has any faith will be delivered—I do not think that even Labour believes that they can be delivered, especially not in the context of a fixed budget.

We will continue to work with people on the issues around jobs and the routes that are affected, and will do everything possible to help the councils and others in relation to their commitments. I have said to Unite that we will meet its representatives any time. If they want to pick up the phone, we will speak to them.

There are very challenging conditions, and we recognise in our amendment that fuel is one of the biggest factors. We call again for the introduction of a fuel duty regulator and for common sense on fuel costs. That will have a much bigger beneficial impact on the bus industry.

I am happy to listen to what other members have to say.

I move amendment S4M-02639.3, to leave out from first “concerns” to end and insert:

“total funding of nearly £250 million per year provided to Scotland’s buses as part of total Scottish Government support for public transport of £1.181 billion; welcomes the Scottish Government’s continuing commitment to the national concessionary travel scheme and Bus Service Operators Grant; welcomes the inclusion in these schemes of demand-responsive transport services available to the general public, such as dial-a-bus; welcomes the Scottish Government’s additional funding of up to £40 million for Glasgow Fastlink, £6 million for low-carbon buses and up to £10 million for Halbeath Park and Ride; welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to innovative solutions such as hard-shoulder running on the M77 and the new £3 million Bus Investment Fund; welcomes its ongoing financial support for passenger-focussed organisations such as Bus Users UK, the Community Transport Association and Traveline Scotland; notes the role of local government in supporting local bus services, previously through the Bus Route Development Grant, which is now incorporated in the general funding of local government; recognises that the per capita subsidy for bus services in Scotland is significantly higher than in England; welcomes the constructive dialogue initiated in the Bus Stakeholder Group and in the Lothians over the future of bus services; notes that First Bus states that fuel prices and economic conditions over a number of years are contributing to its increased costs; notes that the price of diesel has increased by 57% over the last five years and the price of petrol by 55%; further notes that fuel duty in the UK is the highest in the EU, and therefore calls on the UK Government to ease the pressure on all forms of transport by introducing a fuel duty regulator to stabilise fuel costs for all forms of transport and to scrap plans to increase fuel duty in August.”

09:40