Anger as bus quango proposal rides roughshod over committee

18 July 2007
 
New transport minister, Ruth Kelly, angered MPs on Wednesday by revealing she plans a new quango to ensure bus services run on time throughout the country.

The new board would oversee the work of the Traffic Commissioners, and would include one person who was judged to be an expert on bus punctuality. But the proposal came as an unwelcome surprise to the all-party select committee scrutinising the Draft Transport Bill, proposing extra powers to the Traffic Commissioners, because the Bill makes no reference to the board.

Ms Kelly, in the job for just two-and-a-half weeks, said the new board would be outlined in a consultation paper to be published ‘shortly’. Plans to establish it would be incorporated in the Transport Bill proper, next session.

‘The decision to publish the consultation document has been taken in principle,’ she said. But Gwyneth Dunwoody, chairman of the Commons transport select committee, told her: ‘This is the first we have heard about this.’

Kelly said: ‘The proposal under consideration in the department is that there should be this board making sure the traffic commissioners perform adequately to hold bus operators to account.’ The minister also rejected concerns of the passenger transport authorities that new quality bus contracts could take up to five years to get under way. ‘Our analysis is that it would take between 14 to 20 months to go through the process.’

But she added: ‘This is something we want to explore actively with local authorities so we understand their concerns.’ She said there was no reason why local authorities could not start making arrangements for quality contracts ‘in anticipation of the Bill’.

Senior traffic commissioners have also criticised the Government over the Draft Local Transport Bill.

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