Speeches by Lightwood.

“Well, I hope so. As I said, we have continued to engage with organisations since its publication. What we do not want to do is to constantly republish a long-term strategy. Having some stability is really important, as is having those measurables in there to demonstrate we are making progress. The response across the t…”

“Everyone comes from a different place. I cannot give you a timetable for every place in the country. That is why we have an outcomes framework.”

“It is important to say that since publishing the strategy we have continued to engage; it was not a publish and leave. There are 40 clear, concrete deliverables in there. Then there are the local outcome frameworks, which will outline how that is being delivered in the local area.”

“That is in the strategy, although I do not think we call it autonomous vehicles; I think it is referred to as self-driving cars. It is in there, and obviously that should complement existing transport networks and be considered as part of our vision. It highlights automated passenger services and the permitting scheme …”

“Some of this is local decisions, and quite rightfully so because—”

“Ultimately, it will be down to local areas. They have a democratic mandate from their local people to do that.”

“I would agree in terms of the parallel. Most people would admit that having one train operating company rather than 17, and having the ability for more areas to franchise, makes integration a much easier prospect.”

“Traditionally, we have planned and delivered transport in silos. That means that journeys are often a lot more complicated than they really need to be for people. Better Connected is all about bringing the system together so that it works as one, with central Government, our local authorities and transport operators al…”

“Obviously, we want to make shared mobility, such as car sharing, a bigger part of our transport network—I know you challenged on that before—and to give people more opportunity to use that affordable way of travel. Obviously, that helps reduce congestion as well and has the added benefit of cutting emissions. Later thi…”

“That rural demonstrators is really valid.”

“I accept what they are saying there, but every single area comes with different challenges—different social, economic and geographical challenges and different services that they have inherited. Therefore, they come at this in a slightly different way, at different speeds. That is why we try to measure that success thr…”

“No. You have the outcomes framework as well in order to hold them to account, to make sure they are delivering what they said they were going to deliver, based on the conversations and insight they have given us to set those parameters.”

“Well, every area is different—”

“There had been an awful lot of engagement, though, throughout mayoral authorities. As I said, there were 6,000 pieces of input from the public, extensive levels of roadshows and so on. It was really important that we got in front of people to understand the real-life challenges that they face across the transport syste…”

“Good morning. My name is Simon Lightwood. I am the Minister for Roads and Buses.”

“Sitting suspended.”

“”

“That will be a commercial decision for First Bus about whether to invest in those services. The option remains for local leaders to consider whether they want to pursue franchising and take greater control over that issue. They could also lift the ban on establishing new municipal bus companies. There are options there…”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms McVey. I congratulate the hon. Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) on securing this important debate. He has been a committed champion of bus services and transport needs in his constituency, and I thank him for the constructive tone with which he has approached t…”

“You are quite right that we are expecting road traffic to continue to grow but, as I said, our approach is not to tell people how to travel; it is to entice them by having attractive, affordable—”