Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - Bus Service Operators Grant
5. Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what response it has made to representations from the bus industry regarding the bus service operators grant. (S3O-2946)
The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (Stewart Stevenson): Ministers are currently considering the future levels of bus service operators grant. Any changes to the increased level of funding that was set out in the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth's budget statement on 6 February 2008 will be announced in due course.
Des McNulty: The minister might remember that, during the budget debate, I raised the issue of the bus service operators grant, and specifically the fact that it would inevitably lead to fare increases. Is the minister aware of the Competition Commission report that was released earlier this week, which removes the cap from fare levels in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and which directly blames the Scottish Government's BSOG policy for the fare increases? Is he aware of this week's announcement by Stagecoach of bus fare increases in Fife, which are also directly attributable to the incompetence of his Government?
Stewart Stevenson: I am afraid that the member must look closer to home for incompetence. He will be aware of the substantial increases in taxation that have led to the increases to which he refers—and there is also the huge bonus that the Treasury is getting from the increase in the price of oil. If the member were to examine the construction of the bus companies' cost base, which is leading to the fare increases, he would find that the bus service operators grant is an extremely marginal part of it, and that the essence of the increase in the price of bus services is derived from the increase in the cost of fuel. The Competition Commission did not draw the conclusion to which the member refers.
