Oral - Welsh provisions in the Local Transport Bill

 I very much welcome this opportunity to set out in more detail the Welsh provisions in the Local Transport Bill, which we discussed last Wednesday during our debate on the Queen’s Speech.

This is a technical Bill but it is nevertheless an important one for Wales.  It is very much about ensuring that the Welsh Ministers and local authorities have the right tools to do the job, which is to improve public transport and reduce congestion.  The Bill builds on the powers in the Transport (Wales) Act 2006, which we are now using to develop our new strategic transport planning framework.  

The policy areas covered in the Local Transport Bill relate to local bus and community transport services, road pricing, local transport governance and the traffic commissioners.  There are a range of broad enabling provisions that will extend the powers of the Welsh Ministers, particularly in relation to buses, as well as providing the National Assembly with legislative competence in respect of road pricing.  

We have worked closely with transport stakeholders and the UK Government to ensure that the Bill is tailored to meet the needs of Wales and that it will give us the flexibility to develop and take forward our transport policies in both urban and rural areas.

Buses play a key role throughout our transport network, helping to improve accessibility to jobs, services and leisure facilities.  In Wales, they account for more than four out of every five trips by public transport, which equates to around 120 million passenger journeys each year.  However, in many places the current framework is not delivering the quality of service that passengers need and expect.

The Bill contains a balanced package of measures to improve bus services.  It will facilitate more effective partnership working between local authorities and bus operators, as well as making bus franchising – or Quality Contracts – a realistic option.  The Bill also sets out a new regime to deliver better punctuality, for the first time holding local authorities as well as bus operators to account for their contribution to punctuality performance.

One further detailed change is that the Bill clarifies the basis on which local authorities and the Welsh Ministers can support bus services.  It makes it clear that support can be provided to ensure not just that services are provided, but that they are provided to a certain standard, for example, in relation to frequency or the vehicles used.  This is particularly important in relation to the development of the TrawsCambria service, where I am keen to raise service standards to provide a cohesive, high quality network.

There are also important deregulatory measures in the Bill to support the further development of the community transport sector, which plays such an important role in filling the gaps in our conventional public transport network.  These will remove unnecessary restrictions on their operations; for example, where local services are provided for the general public, the Bill will allow the drivers to be paid, as well as allowing larger vehicles to be used.

On local road pricing, the Bill broadly maintains the status quo in Wales, but with some updating of the statutory framework to ensure that any local pricing schemes that are developed are consistent and interoperable.  The Welsh Ministers will retain their approval role for local schemes, as well as a power to hold or cause an inquiry to be held in relation to a charging scheme.

The Bill also contains a Measure power that will provide the National Assembly with legislative competence in relation to road pricing more widely.  If it is decided that road pricing should form a specific part of the Wales transport agenda, this will enable the Assembly to pass Measures in relation to pricing schemes on the strategic road network managed by the Assembly Government.

The Assembly Government has yet to decide what role, if any, road pricing may play in addressing current and future transport challenges.  This power will however enable us to adopt a coherent approach towards any road pricing proposals that may come forward within Wales or any future UK scheme.  The Bill makes clear that the revenues from any trunk road pricing scheme would have to be used for transport purposes in Wales.

Our approach is entirely consistent with the further development of the devolution settlement.  The Bill simply devolves the issue to Wales, as has already been done in Scotland and Northern Ireland.  


The final policy area covered by the Bill concerns the traffic commissioners, who regulate the bus and goods vehicle industries.  There are provisions to ensure that the commissioners operate with consistent standards and procedures across Great Britain.  A senior traffic commissioner will be appointed on a statutory basis, with the power to issue general directions and guidance to the other commissioners.  There will continue to be a traffic commissioner for Wales, who may, as now, have other responsibilities.  There will also continue to be a separate Welsh traffic area.  

To conclude, this is an important Bill that will enhance the legislative competence of the National Assembly, as well as improving bus and community transport and tackling congestion.  It will enable us to develop the transport network in a way that strikes the right balance between our economic, social and environmental objectives, helping to deliver the transport priorities that I set out in my statement in October.