Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
50th Report - Local bus services in England
Published 29 Oct 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Local bus services in England All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Department’s decision to allocate some grants competitively has meant funding per person varied significantly. On average, mayoral combined authorities received significantly more bus service improvement funding (£34 per person) than county councils (£19 per person).27 We asked the Department how it was going to make its funding fairer. The Department told us that it is now using a formula to allocate funding, which is based on levels of deprivation, population and bus network size to distribute grants more equitably, and noted that this means many rural areas receive 19 Qq 64, 67 20 Qq 2, 67 21 C&AG’s report, para 2.13 and Figure 9 22 Qq 29, 35; C&AG’s Report, para 14 23 Qq 38, 67 24 Qq 35, 44 25 C&AG’s report, para 2.16 26 Qq 44-45 27 C&AG’s report, para 2.14 11 higher amounts.28 However, despite the challenges of running bus services in rural areas, the Department told us rurality is not one of the factors it specifically considers in its formula, though it might do so in the future.29
From: Public Accounts Committee, 50th Report - Local bus services in England (HC 892), 29 October 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fiftieth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 29 December 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fiftieth report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees" with each of the Committee's recommendations, while saying it does not think it would be appropriate to set quantitative targets for national outcomes.
- On the vision for buses, the department intends to publish a summary of its vision and intended outcomes "in the next few months", but does not think quantitative national targets would be appropriate because they "would prejudge local choices and trade-offs".
- On funding, the Local Authority Bus Grant began consolidating funding in 2025-26; the Bus Services Fund is not ring-fenced, but funding letters will set an expectation that it is spent on eligible bus schemes, otherwise it "could be clawed back or reduced in future".
- On performance, the department gives a target implementation date of December 2026 for its outcomes framework and says it has been testing a basket of indicators with authorities through a 'Bus Indicator Pilot'.
- On concessionary travel, the department "will write to the Committee" within six months on barriers facing elderly and disabled passengers, with details of its plans to address them.