Member

I turn briefly to the contribution from the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw. I am very grateful to him for the dialogue we have had about the importance of local highway and transport authorities making traffic flow properly to enable adequate and reliable bus services. Of course, where there is or will be a franchising scheme, the local transport authority has a direct interest in making sure that the highway network copes with buses and will therefore, as has happened in Manchester, naturally take a much greater interest in the reliability of the local road network. However, as the noble Lord says, across the bus networks in general we will look at reissuing Local Transport Note 1/24, and guidance, including revisions to reflect changes in bus policy resulting from this Bill. That will add weight to this. Some 98% of local authorities in England have powers to enforce parking offences, 87% have powers to enforce bus lane offences, and authorities outside London have, since 2022, been able to apply to the Department for Transport to take on the role of enforcing moving traffic restrictions such as yellow box junctions.