Member

Amendment 59 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, proposes the introduction of a statutory requirement on the Secretary of State to publish a report detailing a proposed bus funding formula for consultation. This would risk constraining the department’s ability to adapt bus funding allocation methodologies swiftly and efficiently while the consultation takes place. The noble Lord well knows that the significant local transport authority share of the funding package of £955 million awarded last December was allocated on the basis of population, bus mileage and deprivation. That was a fair package and, I believe, a very reasonable way of allocating that funding. In contrast, the previous Government’s allocation of local transport funding was entirely selective in the number and sort of local transport authorities it was applied to, and the choice of those authorities was not immediately apparent to either those receiving the money or, more importantly, those who did not.