Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 24
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Older and disabled people are taking far fewer bus journeys than other passengers relative to pre-COVID bus usage; the number of concessionary journeys by older and disabled passengers is 29% lower than before COVID. The Department explained that fare paying passenger journeys are nearly at pre-COVID levels. However, because concessionary journeys make up a high proportion of total journeys, the total number of journeys is 9% lower than before COVID.57 We asked the Department to explain why older and disabled passengers had not returned to buses after COVID. Despite a growing population of people eligible for age-related concessionary 50 Q 53 51 Q 5 52 C&AG’s report, para 3.12 53 Qq 68-68 54 Qq 3, 5, 11 55 Q 11 56 Qq 3, 37 57 Q 9; C&AG’s report, para 1.9 and Figure 1 15 travel, fewer people are taking up their passes. The Department outlined some anecdotal evidence on changes to travel patterns it has observed since COVID-19 but could not assure us that reduced bus usage by elderly and disabled people is a genuine choice instead of exclusion due to accessibility issues.58
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.