Hansard

Presiding Officer, with your permission I will make a statement about concessionary bus travel for older and disabled people.

The partnership agreement commits the Executive to three national travel initiatives: first, the introduction of a new free bus scheme for older and disabled people; secondly, a new concessionary fares scheme for young people; and, thirdly, a full review of public transport support for disabled people. I will concentrate today on the first of those commitments: the national scheme for free bus travel for older and disabled people.

We are now, as a result of our very successful discussions with the bus operators, in a position to make today's statement, which goes beyond our original commitment. We will announce the details of the scheme for young people in the spring of next year. Our work to assess improved travel support for disabled people will continue throughout 2005. That work will involve major research and consultation and our conclusions will be announced at the end of next year.

Our progress on free bus travel for older and disabled people is one of the major successes of devolution to date. Since September 2002, there has been an increase in bus use of more than 40 per cent, in only two years, by more than a million older and disabled people in Scotland—there were 45 million extra journeys in 2003-04 alone. Concessionary travel has delivered real change in the lives of older people. It has opened up opportunities and provided greater access to vital health and community services.

We now want to do more to build on the scheme's outstanding success. The local concessionary fares scheme has made a big difference to people's everyday lives; a national scheme offers the opportunity to go further. That is why our two parties—the Liberal Democrats and Labour—made a joint commitment in our partnership agreement. We agreed to deliver a national off-peak scheme to allow older and disabled people to travel anywhere in Scotland. That decision built on the success of policies such as free personal care and the warm homes deal as part of our determined effort to improve the quality of life for older people.

Today, I can confirm that we will sweep away the local scheme boundaries. Older and disabled people will be able to travel free by bus, anywhere in Scotland. Passengers will be able, as at present, to travel free in their local area; they will also be able to travel free by bus to anywhere else in the country and to travel free on local buses at their destination. The new scheme will open up exciting new opportunities and it will dramatically improve the quality of life of those involved. The scheme will connect people and communities throughout Scotland.

Our partnership commitment was to free off-peak travel and the current national minimum standard provides for travel only after 9.30 am. Today, I am able to announce that we will also sweep away the morning peak-time restriction. That will allow older and disabled people to travel free by bus anywhere in Scotland, at any time of day.

As well as receiving many representations about allowing peak-time travel, to which I have been able to respond, I have been asked to consider the position of older and disabled people who live on Scotland's islands. It is important that the scheme benefits older and disabled people in every part of Scotland. I am therefore pleased to announce that, for islanders, we are now also introducing a minimum entitlement of two free return journeys by ferry to the mainland each year. That will be a new benefit and will not affect any entitlements to ferry travel under existing local schemes.

Much has to be done to ensure that the national scheme is introduced smoothly. The scheme must be underpinned by procedures and rules that pay bus operators fair compensation and safeguard the Executive from fraud. To assist in the achievement of that aim, the intention is that the scheme will, for the first time, use smart cards throughout Scotland. That will be of major benefit in our drive to make public transport easier to use and more accessible for everyone. The introduction of smart cards for more than a million people to use on all Scotland's buses will create significant opportunities for flexible ticketing and integrated travel. Everyone in Scotland will benefit from those new opportunities.

The new national scheme will be introduced in April 2006. Until then, the current 16 schemes will continue unchanged. The new scheme will provide the same entitlement to card holders, wherever they live, and to ensure that that happens the scheme will be run nationally by the new national transport agency, using powers that are proposed in the Transport (Scotland) Bill. The current local schemes are being delivered through the commitment and professionalism of the bus operators and the transport authorities and that approach will stand us in good stead as we move to the national scheme.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has been positive about the changes and has agreed to hold detailed discussions about the new administrative and funding arrangements that will be required. Local authorities will continue to provide concessionary travel on other types of public transport, for example on rail or through taxicard or dial-a-bus and dial-a-taxi schemes, as they consider appropriate for their areas. However, I want to make an important point: every older or disabled person in Scotland will be entitled to use the new free bus scheme, regardless of their eligibility for those important local schemes. Older and disabled people will never have to make a choice between a local scheme and the national scheme.

Our objective will be to ensure that enough money remains in the local government settlement for local authorities' continuing responsibilities. We also want to ensure that resources that are used to support socially necessary bus services are protected locally.

The measures amount to a major step forward for older and disabled passengers in Scotland and have been made possible by an agreement with the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, the representative body for the bus operators. The agreement commits bus operators for the first time to an unrestricted, Scotland-wide, free bus scheme for older and disabled people, at agreed levels of payment. Card holders will be able to access the widest range of bus and coach services. The current local schemes cover only local services and, in some—but not all—areas, scheduled coach services in the local area. The new scheme will allow older and disabled people to travel free on local services and scheduled coach services throughout Scotland.

Currently, each scheme has its own rate of payment to bus operators, which is complex, bureaucratic and time consuming. All that will go. The national scheme will have a single payment rate for all operators on all journeys. The rate will be 73.6 per cent of the average adult single fare. That is the same rate as the one that applies in Wales, where it is widely accepted as being fair to the operators and to the taxpayer. The rate will form the basis of our new approach. It will compensate for the revenue that passengers would have paid through the fare box if there had been no scheme and for any additional costs that the operator might incur, for example by putting on extra services.

However, there will be an important difference in our approach. There will be an extra safeguard for the taxpayer. In Scotland, the total payment in any one year on the national bus scheme will be capped. For the scheme that I am announcing, the maximum payment will be £159 million in 2006-07 and £163 million in 2007-08. That guarantees that the scheme will be affordable for the Executive and for the taxpayer. If in any year it becomes clear that the cap will be reached, there will be a mechanism involving the bus operators to adjust payments accordingly.

The new scheme is good news for everyone who believes in better public transport in Scotland. The Confederation of Passenger Transport UK has assured us that, on the basis of the agreement, bus operators will invest in modern vehicles and better services, which will secure benefits for all passengers who use the network. We will ensure that the additional benefits to the bus network as a whole will be tracked as part of our monitoring of the new scheme.

This is a ground-breaking agreement with the bus industry in Scotland and a real model of partnership working that will benefit the industry and all passengers. Today's announcement is good news for older and disabled people throughout Scotland, good news for the bus industry, good news for passengers and good news for everyone who believes in better public transport.