CONCESSIONARY BUS FARES SCHEME

That this House welcomes the extension of the concessionary bus fare scheme; notes that the existing grant did not fully compensate those local authorities for which this was an enhanced concession; further notes that areas with a large number of qualifying residents are having to subsidise the scheme from other resources; fears that widening the scheme, whilst welcome in principle, will impact disproportionately on areas that attract large numbers of visitors, such as coastal resorts, whose demography already results in a higher uptake; and therefore calls on the Government to ensure that local authorities with these characteristics will be fully compensated under the new scheme.