Minutes of the Transport and Access Forum Held on 26th October 2009 at 12:30pm At NHS Greater and Clyde, Dalian House, 350 St Vincent St, G3 8YZ

Present: Niall McGrogan, NHS GGC, Head of Community Engagement and Transport Chris Drapper, NHS GGC, Transport Projects Manager Carsten Mandt, NHS GGC, Regional Access to Health Project Manager Agnes McGroarty, West of Seniors Forum Anne Marie Kennedy, RSVP East Renfrewshire Anne Jack, Chair, Patients Forum East End Barbara Walker, Better Access to Health Sandra Robertson, Renfrewshire CHP Shona McAllister, Glasgow SE Carers Centre Ann Kilgour, West Glasgow CHCP/Greater Knightswood Elderly Forum Jean Dougan, West Glasgow CHCP/Greater Knightswood Elderly Forum

Apologies: Julie Young, Inverclyde Community Care Forum Jim Thompson, East Dunbartonshire CVS Jess Thomson, Friends of the Victoria/East Renfrewshire Access Panel Irene Forrest, NATA Graham Dunn, SPT/Community Transport Professor Douglas McGregor, South East Glasgow Health Forum Lorna Gray, PA to Niall McGrogan

Agenda Item Action 1. Welcome and Apologies Ann & Jean were welcomed as new members to the Forum. Apologies were accepted for those above. Niall informed the Forum that Enoch Humphries had sadly passed away earlier in the year. Niall also informed the Forum that Alec McKoy had decided to move South to England and had regretfully tendered his resignation. Shona McAllister (Glasgow South East Care Centre) has changed jobs and also regretfully tenders her resignation. The contribution that all of these individuals have made to the Forum was acknowledged.

2. Minutes of last meeting (16th February 2009) The minutes were agreed as correct and will be added to the website.

The SAS Consultation (3 rd August 2009) Notes from this meeting will also be added to the website.

1 3. Matters Arising

The Ninewells Hospital Visit (21 st October 2009)

In addition, the Forum visited Ninewells Hospital to look at their mobility scheme for disabled users. Those who attended the visit were asked to submit their opinions on the scheme. These views, along with the views of the NHS personnel from Facilities who accompanied us, would form part of a report to examine the feasibility of such schemes for NHSGGC hospitals. All

Report On Low Floor Buses (Buggy/Wheelchair) Jim Thompson was undertaking this. As he is not present, this would be carried over to the next meeting. Jim

SPT Bus Transport Survey & Technical Aspects of the SPT Bus Action Plan In the absence of John Robin (SPT), this would also be carried forward.

4. Presentation Brief Niall introduced our guest Speaker, Charlie Gordon MSP, and outlined the background of the Forum to Charlie, its role and remit. In addition, Niall informed the Forum of the relevance of the issues in Charlie’s proposed bill.

5. Regulation of Bus Services Bill – Charlie Gordon MSP Charlie took the Forum through a little history of regulation/de-regulation of bus services and the key legacies of the 2001 Transport (Scotland) Act. He

then outlined some of the main concerns that he felt needed to be addressed: • Inadequacy of some bus services; • Ambiguity in bus policy, leading to uncertainty for operators and the public; • Complaints around disability and the lower rate of Disability Living Allowance in relation to the concessionary travel scheme; and

• Bus services operated by Community Transport organisations should have the opportunity to be part of the concessionary travel scheme (provided they can meet certain service standards).

Charlie then went into further detail on the above points, including some

statistics. He then provided information concerning the drafting of the proposed bill, and the lengthy legislative process it would need to undergo to get to the statute books.

There followed a short discussion and question/answer session culminating in strong support for Charlie’s proposal.

It was also suggested to Charlie that he could make use of groups such as the NHSGGC Transport & Access Forum to get the message out. A briefing note 2 on Charlie’s proposed Bill could be sent to all community groups asking for their support of the proposal. In addition, Charlie should consider using the pre-printed lobbying card technique employed by Jackie Baillie that she used for her Disabled Badge bill. The Forum would be willing to assist in spreading such cards around. Individuals can also contact their constituency MSPs to ask for their support of the Bill in Parliament.

Niall thanked Charlie for his enlightening talk and the Forum wished him every success in navigating his proposed bill through the .

A copy of Charlie’s presentation is included with these minutes.

Subsequent to the meeting, Charlie has provided the following additional information:

The OFT has today (26 October 2009) published its market study into the supply of local bus services and proposes to refer the sector to the Competition Commission (CC) for more detailed investigation.

In a five-month investigation into the £3.6 billion industry, the OFT found evidence to suggest that limited competition may be leading to higher prices for bus users.

The study has identified a number of features of local bus markets that could prevent, restrict or distort competition in the sector. These relate both to commercial services and to services subsidised by local transport authorities. Issues include: o a situation where the majority of local routes are operated by a small number of large bus companies; o higher fares in those areas where operators with a strong market position are not challenged by a large, well-resourced rival; o many complaints alleging predatory behaviour of incumbent firms designed to eliminate competition from new entrants; and o low numbers of bids for supported service contracts in many areas, with just one bidder for a quarter of tenders.

Scottish Government Review on Concessionary Travel Scheme Recommendation 1 - The Scottish Government should aim to change the eligibility criteria from 1 April 2011 to include HM service personnel and veterans under the age of 60 who were seriously injured in service and are resident in Scotland. Recommendation 2 - As part of any future review of the blue badge scheme, Scottish Government should work with local authorities to ensure that blue badge eligibility to the concessionary travel scheme includes only 3 legitimate blue badge holders. Recommendation 3 - That all operators not on a flat fare be required to move to a single method (shadow fares) of claiming reimbursement based on smartcard technology as it is fully rolled out. Recommendation 4 - That the legislation should be changed to require operators to retain records of re-imbursement claims for a period of at least 3 years. Recommendation 5 - That an independent-led examination should commence on fare discounts and the addition for cost to report in time for setting the reimbursement rate for the 2010/11 financial year and to inform funding decisions for the next Spending Review period. Recommendation 6 - Consideration should be made to reviewing the current arrangements whereby interim payments result in 90% of reimbursement values being paid in advance. Recommendation 7 - That the legislation should be reviewed and amended where necessary to ensure that the definition used to define eligible services meets the aims of the scheme. Recommendation 8 - That further work should be undertaken specifically to examine the long-term sustainability of the Scheme. Recommendation 9 - That the legislation should be amended to make clear that eligible people may only travel with one companion on any given journey, even though they may have more than one recognised companion.

6. Future Agenda Items The following Agenda items were considered:

• GCC (Michael Brady) to be re-invited and to speak on Blue Badges;

• Transport Commissioner (Joan Aitken) to give a talk; • SPT Bus Action Plan (Mike Heyes) to provide information from their public transport survey and technical aspects of the Bus Action Plan; • Taxis – national standards; accessibility; surcharges; taxi schemes;

It was agreed that the next topic would be SPT’s Bus Action Plan. Chris

7. AOCB There were no additional points for discussion. 8. Dates of Next Meetings: Dalian House @ 11.00 • 26 January 2010 • 27 April 2010 • 10 August 2010

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