Appendix—Government response
Introduction
The Government welcomes the Committee's report on
the important issue of improving access to public services. We
note with interest the recommendations that the Committee has
made, in particular on the need to work across government and
for greater 'joining up'.
Response to the Committee's Recommendations
14. To improve the accountability of public bodies
for their accessibility performance, the Department for Transport
should work with other government departments to provide more
detailed analysis and commentary for the accessibility statistics.
Similarly, the Department should work with local authorities to
help publish localised accessibility statistics. (Paragraph 16)
As noted in the Department for Transport's (DfT's)
evidence to the Committee, and in the Committee's report, DfT
already regularly publishes statistics on transport accessibility,
down to a very small geographical scale (Lower Layer Super Output
Area), along with a range of summary measures at other geographical
scales, including local authority level. These measure the availability
of transport to key services covering food stores, education (primary,
secondary schools and Further Education colleges), health care
(GPs and hospitals), town centres and employment centres, for
the populations who use them.
The 2012 Accessibility Statistics are already in
production, and are due for release at the end of August 2013.
Alongside the publication of the 2012 statistics,
the DfT will be launching a review of the statistics, aimed at
improving our understanding of how they are used, whether they
meet user needs, whether the statistics as currently designed
are still needed, and whether improvements could be made in areas
of continuing need.
The results of the review will be used to plan what
statistics we produce in future, and how they can be produced
most efficiently given the resources available.
In parallel, the DfT is continuing to work with the
supplier of the mostly widely used accessibility planning software
as they develop and roll out a new software package.
We also continue to engage with users of accessibility
statistics and accessibility practitioners as resources and opportunities
permit, for instance through participating in meetings of the
East of England Accessibility Group.
15.
The Government should protect bus service funding in the next
Spending Review. (Paragraph 26)
The Coalition Government is committed to supporting
buses, and was pleased to make clear in the recent Spending Review—the
details of which were announced on 26 June—that the funding
which it provides to support buses will be protected for 2015-16.
On 5 July 2013, the Government announced the final
outcome of a review of the current bus subsidy regime which was
conducted in order to improve its effectiveness and ensure that
Government bus funding is put to the best possible use. Details
of the changes can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-transport/series/bus-subsidy-reform
.
16. When the Government reviews its exemption
for bus and coach staff from complying with EU regulations on
disability awareness training, it should survey potential users
to establish whether perceptions of disability unawareness has
been making them reluctant to travel. (Paragraph 31)
On 1 March 2013, the Government applied a 5 year
exemption within EU Regulation 181/2011 (concerning the rights
of bus and coach passengers) on the requirement for drivers to
undertake mandatory disability awareness training. This was done
in order to ensure that the UK meets its EU obligations, whilst
delaying the costs to the bus and coach industry and giving them
more time to prepare, which is likely to be of particular benefit
to small and medium size operators.
However, the Government agreed to review the use
of this exemption after one year to ensure drivers are receiving
adequate training in this area and DfT officials will begin work
on this in due course. The review will focus specifically on assessing
the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) estimate that 75%
of all drivers have undertaken some form of disability awareness
training, rather than on passenger attitudes towards disability
awareness. If a significant upward trend in disability awareness
training is not shown, we will examine options and propose a plan
of action to encourage the industry to undertake this kind of
training.
This review will take place after September 2013,
by which time all drivers are required to have undertaken 35 hours
of mandatory training required under the EU Directive on the Certificate
of Professional Competence (CPC). On 9 July 2013, Norman Baker
MP wrote to the Bus Industry to re-iterate the Government's support
for this practical and valuable training and to encourage input
from stakeholders on how best to ensure that the percentage of
drivers who have undertaken disability awareness training rises
significantly by March 2014.
17. While the localism agenda is reducing the
Department for Transport's influence on how accessibility is implemented,
the Department cannot absolve itself from a role in guiding and
advising those communities to fully embrace the requirements of
accessibility. (Paragraph 37)
18. In the reform of the Planning Practice Guidance,
which follows the introduction of the National Planning Policy
Framework, the guidance on Transport Assessments should not only
be retained but strengthened in its coverage of accessibility
requirements. (Paragraph 51)
[Joint response for recommendations 17 & 18]
The Government welcomes these recommendations. Travel Plans, Transport
Assessments and Statements all contribute to encouraging sustainable
travel, help create accessible and connected communities, minimise
traffic generation and its detrimental impacts, improve road safety,
and reduce the need for new development to increase road capacity
or new roads themselves. The Government is pleased to confirm
that the guidance on Transport Assessments is being retained.
There will be an opportunity for interested parties to comment
on its appropriateness, in terms of accessibility during its beta
pilot stage.
19. The forthcoming Transport Strategy offers
the Department for Transport an opportunity to join up existing
strategies that will have an influence on accessibility, including
on the 'door-to-door' travel experience and physical accessibility
of transport. It should also set out the arrangements in Government
for ensuring that the transport accessibility of public services
does not remain in departmental silos. (Paragraph 58)
We recognise the importance of the 'door to door'
experience of transport. In March 2013 we published 'Door to Door:
A strategy for improving sustainable transport integration' which
focuses on the links between sustainable transport modes such
as public transport, cycling and walking, and sets out the actions
we are taking to enable more journeys to be made in this way.
Significant cross-departmental work is already underway
to improve access to public services. For example, as identified
in the Report, many of the issues of access affect rural communities
particularly strongly. DfT and Defra are cooperating in gathering
evidence about these effects and promoting solutions. In particular,
the Departments have agreed on the importance of measuring the
changes to bus subsidies on rural areas, are working together
on the Government's response to the 2012 Youth Select Committee
Report on transport and young people and, in collaboration with
the Department of Health, are supporting rural transport providers
and the community transport sector to help address the gaps in
rural access to healthcare.
20. We recommend that the Cabinet Office convenes
a working group of Ministers and officials to improve cross-government
working on accessibility. The transport, education, health, work
and pensions and communities and local government departments
should form its core membership. Consideration should also be
given to how processes aimed at checking that sustainable development
is embedded across government, including the Cabinet Office's
reviews of departmental business plans, could include consideration
of transport-accessibility to public services. (Paragraph 64)
Improving accessibility is at the heart of the remit
of the Department for Transport, ensuring that the conditions
are in place that enable people to move around the country to
access work and the services they need. The Department works closely
with a number of other Departments, including the Departments
of Health, Work and Pensions, and Communities and Local Government
to deliver this remit.
But in the main accessibility is a local issue, with
people wanting to be able to access work and services close to
their homes. As a consequence we believe that local communities,
local government and transport operators are best placed to identify
practical solutions.
We do not think an inter-Ministerial Group will add
value to this local agenda.
21. The Department for Transport should work with
the Local Government Association to develop a web portal to allow
local authorities to share good practice examples of accessibility-focused
projects. (Paragraph 68)
In 2011, the Local Government Association (LGA) created
an online knowledge hub for those working in local government
so that professionals can share knowledge and information online.
Users can share documents online, join online groups
relevant to their work area and take part in online chats. The
site is open to anyone with an interest in local government to
register.
The LGA Knowledge Hub website enables online groups
to be set up for sharing information on best practice with local
authorities. In relation to transport, active groups have been
established on this site for concessionary fares, Blue Badge scheme,
Local Sustainable Transport Fund, etc.
DfT support the use of the existing platform and
are working closely with the LGA to ensure its continuation.
22. The Government should publish up to date guidance
which makes a compelling case for accessibility to be addressed,
not just by local authorities but by all central government departments.
Departmental Business Plans should explicitly state how each department
is taking forward accessibility. The inter-departmental working
group on accessibility that we have recommended should then hold
those departments to account through regular reviews of these
Plans. In responding to this report, the Department for Transport
should set out the actions it will take in the light of its review
of accessibility planning. It should seek to implement the evaluation's
recommendations swiftly. (Paragraph 74)
Departmental business plans, the latest iterations
of which were published in June 2013, set out each department's
agreed policy and implementation priorities, and the actions departments
will undertake to achieve them and by when. These priorities have
a clear line of sight to the Programme for Government and the
Coalition's Mid-term review. Within the plans (and the 2013 Open
Public Services update document) are a number of commitments that
seek to improve the quality and accessibility of public service
provision. Whilst the business plans continue to act as a valuable
tool in holding the Government to account for its policies, there
has been no public commitment to refresh the plans in 2014.
23. The Government should widen the scope of the
existing review of school transport to include all other local
transport funding. Such a review should consider how greater efficiencies
could be achieved by pooling budgets to achieve greater procurement
efficiencies or sharing vehicle use for different purposes. (Paragraph
79)
DfE Ministers are considering the current home to
school transport policy to identify where changes might be required.
The aim of any review would be to consider existing arrangements,
taking into account Spending Review commitments and the needs
of an evolving modern society, to identify and secure improvements,
with a view to developing an efficient and effective policy to
meet current and future transport needs.
In common with its drive to deregulate, the Government
is giving local authorities more power to decide how to spend
public money in their areas, according to local need. Local authorities
are responsible for securing home to school transport provision.
They are best placed to take an overview of their area, and already
make links between school and wider public transport commitments
where it might be advantageous to do so and to secure maximum
efficiencies and best value for money. Because of their position,
local authorities can also bring considerable economies of scale
in terms of procurement and expertise and the Government will
certainly highlight the importance of their position in the review.
For example, achieving greater procurement efficiency
through sharing vehicle use—'brokerage'—is a key feature
of a number of community transport schemes operating in rural
areas, representing a cost effective way to maximise and utilise
the resources available to the community. Defra supports this
and is working with the organisers of successful brokerage schemes
to understand how this model might be replicated for the benefit
of other rural communities.
24. The Government should review its transport
funding for local authorities to ensure that pro-accessibility
services that are dependent particularly on revenue rather than
capital expenditure are not disproportionately curtailed. (Paragraph
82)
As part of the 2013 spending round, the Government
considered the overall balance of capital and revenue funding
for local authorities. The conclusions announced by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer on 26 June include a large increase in transport
capital funding for local authorities, but also the continuation
into 2015-16 of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, with a substantial
amount of revenue funding (£78.5m with attached conditions
to be confirmed at a later date) as well as £100m of capital
funding.
25. The Department for Transport should extend
its work on measuring the social value of bus services to incorporate
all other modes of public transport. Calculating the social impacts
of transport investment decisions, using these values, should
be a mandatory part of the Department's investment appraisal guidance.
(Paragraph 83)
DfT recently commissioned research into valuing the
social impact of bus travel. This research has now been completed
and the report will be published later this year. The Department
will consider how the outputs of the research can be used to help
inform decision-making through better reflecting social impacts
in investment appraisal guidance. The Department will ensure that
the research is disseminated internally and the recommendations
highlighted to other areas of the Department.
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