St David’s Day boost for buses and equality

Environment Picture of Welsh flag
ViewsMarch 2nd, 2015

The reaction to the UK Government’s St David’s Day Agreement has been predictable.  However, whether it is a ‘landmark’ or ‘third rate‘ or simply ‘solid, if uninspiring‘ there are some important commitments which have escaped scrutiny of the agreement so far, yet which could make a real difference to people’s lives.

Regulation of buses

The devolution of the registration and regulation of bus services could transform Wales’s rapdily shrinking bus network – and the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on it. This is, or should be, more than the devolution of the administration of bus regulation – currently done from Birmingham.  It should also, and here the devil will be in the detail, provide the Welsh Government with the tools it needs to improve services.

At the moment, the Welsh Government subsidises bus services, whether through paying for more than four out of ten passengers and providing a rebate on bus mileage, or by directly subsidising non-commercial services, but has no control over what bus operators actually do. The challenge will be to ensure it has the expertise and capacity to do this effectively.

Socio-economic equality

The other interesting commitment is that to devolve part of the Equality Act 2010.  The Act includes a clause which requires public bodies to have regard to socio-economic equality when reaching decisions, along with the protected characteristics of gender, age, disability, race, religion and sexual orientation.  This clause was never enacted in the rest of the UK, but now the Assembly can do so if it wishes.

Will it make a difference? That remains to be seen. A review of the existing duties in respect of protected characteristics found that they have made some difference, but socio-economic inequalities are of a different nature and magnitude and may not lend themselves so readily to the ‘duties’ approach.

So, while the St David’s Day agreement may disappoint in some ways, be uninspiring in others, as far as buses and socio-economic inequalities are concerned, it is a welcome move.

Victoria Winckler is Director of the Bevan Foundation. 

Leave a Reply

Search

Search and filter the archive using any of the following fields:

  • Choose Type:

  • Choose Focus:

  • Choose Tag:

Close