1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on his plans for developing bus services? OAQ(5)0124(EI)

Yes. I refer the Member to the oral statement I delivered yesterday and, again, thank the Member for his warm welcome of it.

Thank you very much for that response. Clearly, we received the statement after I’d tabled the question; it’s the nature of things. But, in your written statement back in the autumn, you’d said that you were going to hold discussions with Newport and Cardiff councils on the benefits of running local bus companies through the public sector. Can I ask you—? [Interruption.]

Right. You can carry on now.

Should I carry on or start again?

Yes, if you could repeat what you said.

Ailadrodd? Ie. Datganiad ysgrifenedig yn ôl yn yr hydref—roeddech chi’n sôn am waith efo cynghorau Caerdydd a Chasnewydd ynglŷn â manteision rhedeg cwmnïau bysus lleol drwy’r sector gyhoeddus. Byddwch chi’n cofio hynny. A allaf i ofyn beth ydy ffrwyth y trafodaethau yna, ac a ydych chi wedi dechrau trafod gydag awdurdodau eraill, megis Abertawe, er enghraifft, y posibilrwydd o greu system debyg i’r rheini sydd yn digwydd yng Nghaerdydd a Chasnewydd?

Again, I’d like to thank the Member for his keen interest in this subject area. I spoke with both Newport and Cardiff to gather best practice from both, with a view of sharing that with Swansea and with other local authorities. A number of work streams were created as a consequence of the bus summit in Wrexham, one of which looks at how we can create a more sustainable network and ensure that the right form of support is driven into local authorities, and, indeed, to operators, so that they could become more secure for the future. We’re also looking at the franchising potential and also the possibility of more municipal services being created across Wales. This is an area of work that I feel particularly excited about and I think we have a golden opportunity to create a far better bus network for Wales.

Cabinet Secretary, there is a degree of apprehension, I think, within parts of the bus industry at the potential for the introduction of top-down regulation following the devolution of various pieces of legislation to Wales. Will you give a general overview of how you see the future regulation of the bus industry and also give an assurance that any new regulation will be only introduced after consultation with and in partnership with operators, the industry representatives and, indeed, local authorities?

Can I thank Russell George for his questions and say that work with the industry, with passenger groups and, indeed, with local authorities will continue? There is clearly apprehension about the prospect of new regulation and stronger regulation being introduced, but we will be revealing our intentions and our overall vision in the document that is going out to public consultation on March 8. It’s our view that change is required in order to better integrate bus and rail services and to improve accessibility and punctuality of services. With those changes there will be challenge, but at the end of the day, we have to consider the passengers first and foremost and I have confidence in the best of operators doing that.

Thanks, Minister, for your statement yesterday on improving the bus services. I was interested in your plans to improve the bus stop experience, particularly by providing more electronic information. This could be variable due to geographical factors. For instance, in the south Wales Valleys, the stops tend to be relatively smaller with a lack of shelters, plus there is also the issue of the variability of broadband. So, I wondered what your plans were to improve the bus stop experience in the Valleys.

Can I thank the Member for his question? This is a very important point, because what bus users have regularly told us is that the lack of decent modern facilities, bus stops in particular, is a deterrent to them actually taking public transport. I mentioned a moment ago that a number of work streams were created as a consequence of the bus summit, and another one of those work streams actually focuses specifically on immediate improvements that can be brought to bus stations, in particular the provision of live transport information.

We do not believe, given the roll-out of Superfast Cymru and the availability of other forms of digital technology, that live information could not be provided at all bus stops, regardless of how rural they are. There are various solutions that can be deployed. We are confident that they can be. One of the challenges that we have, though, is that—as I outlined yesterday in the statement—we have been seeking to establish voluntary quality partnerships between local authorities and bus operators for some time. One of the difficulties that we’ve faced is in actually getting the commitment from the local authorities and the operators to invest in their respective infrastructure. For that reason, we’ve got the work stream looking at what support is required to get the investment that is needed into bus stops right across Wales.