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3. The existing framework for user representation
RAIL PASSENGERS' COUNCIL ( RPC)
7. The objectives of the new Rail Passengers' Council are as follows:
- to act as a rail passenger organisation that secures improvements to services, providing help, advice and information to customers;
- to help form the development of main policies, procedures and regulation of matters affecting rail passengers;
- to act as a national campaigning and lobbying organisation, with more emphasis on research and publishing;
- to reduce complaints made by passengers through driving up the quality of service levels and passenger interfaces, as well as raising the profile of RPC amongst all passengers.
8. The Rail Passengers' Council replaced the 8 regional Rail Passengers' Committees as a GB-wide rail passenger consumer body.
9. The Chairperson was appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport, and the Board of the Council is composed of not more than 16 members. The Scottish Ministers, National Assembly for Wales and the London Assembly appointed a member each. The other 12 appointees were decided by the Secretary of State after consultation with the Chairperson. The staffing structure is headed by a Chief Executive who is responsible for the delivery of RPC objectives.
10. The RPC was created under section 19 of the Railways Act 2005. The board meets at least twice a year or at the request of the Chairperson whenever he sees fit, or by the request of 3 other members of the Council. The RPC is funded by the Department for Transport.
BUS USER COMPLAINTS TRIBUNAL ( BUCT)
11. The Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 provides for the extension of the Bus User Complaints Tribunal's remit to include scheduled services which are not classified as local services. This change allows BUCT to deal with complaints regarding coach services and is consistent with the intention of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 that the Tribunal cover all scheduled bus services which are available to the general travelling public.
12. Scottish Ministers specified that the overall aim of BUCT shall be to provide bus users with a voice in securing better bus services through the introduction of a statutory appeals procedure in the event that a bus operator does not satisfactorily resolve a complaint.
13. The BUCT Regulations 2002 were made under Section 41 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001. BUCT was established in 2002 and in its short lifetime has made some progress in becoming the public representative of the bus user in Scotland. In 2004 the Tribunal dealt with 126 relevant complaints and 167 complaints in total, of which they made determinations in 47 cases and referred 28 cases to the Traffic Commissioner. The Regulations give BUCT the following powers, duties and functions:
- the power to determine any written complaints made by or on behalf of any individual about the manner in which a relevant complaint has been dealt with or appealing a decision made on a relevant complaint;
- the power in making determinations to require the payment of compensation by a bus operator;
- the duty to consult bus operators, and any other relevant parties, regarding complaints about registered local bus services;
- the duty to consider any appeals from bus operators in relation to the payment of compensation;
- the duty to make reports arising from complaints to Scottish Ministers;
- the duty to make reports arising from complaints to the Traffic Commissioner; and
- the functions to acknowledge, receipt and register written complaints made in accordance with the regulations.
14. A "relevant complaint" is defined in the 2001 Act as any written complaint made by or on behalf of any individual to an operator of local or scheduled coach services which relates to the operation of any local or scheduled coach service operated by such operator.
15. In practice this means that BUCT deals with any relevant complaints which have not been satisfactorily resolved by a bus or scheduled coach operator in the first instance.
16. BUCT membership comprises a Convenor and 2 members who all have considerable experience of the bus industry and public transport generally.
17. BUCT is funded by the Executive. The administration is provided by DfT as it was decided that there were synergies in placing BUCT within the Traffic Commissioner's regulatory orbit.
SHIPPING SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEES ( SSAC)
18. The proposed 5 new-style SSACs would cover Hebrides North, Hebrides South and the Clyde ferry services areas, plus separate committees for Orkney and Shetland. The new-style SSACs could:
- comment to subsidised ferry operators in the Clyde, Hebrides and Northern Isles as appropriate on local operational matters, including operators' route development proposals, issues with timetables and fares etc;
- consider local customer complaints and refer matters to the Scottish Ferry Committee ( SFC) if appropriate or unresolved;
- respond to requests from the SFC for comments on particular matters;
- report annually to the SFC on local SSAC activities, for subsequent SFC reports to Scottish Ministers;
- in the event that subsidised routes are proposed for withdrawal, to consult with users and report to the Scottish Ministers through the SFC.
19. Three initial SSACs were established some years ago by CalMac to provide a mechanism for local consultation on operational matters.
20. New-style SSACs are likely to consist of nominated representatives from local authorities and other interested bodies e.g. hauliers, freight bodies, National Farmers' Union of Scotland etc. as was the case in each of the previous 3 areas.
21. New-style SSACs would be established voluntarily by interested parties. In practice, the Minister would simply write to local authorities in the areas concerned inviting them to establish such committees in line with his thoughts on remit etc. Local authorities have already agreed to this in principle, subject to clarification of some details e.g. funding.
22. Future costs of new-style SSACs are to be met by Scottish Executive grants.
SCOTTISH FERRY COMMITTEE ( SFC)
23. Scottish Ministers have already consulted on their proposals to establish a 2-tier arrangement: a new SFC to consider strategic long-term issues and new-style local Shipping Services Advisory Committees ( SSACs) to consider operational issues such as timetables and route development. The Scottish Executive is currently developing these proposals with a view to the committee and new-style SSACs being set up during 2006. Its broad remit would be to:
- be consulted by Scottish Ministers on ferry matters in Scotland and to prepare reports on ferry topics as requested by Scottish Ministers. For example, it might be asked for long-term views on whether Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services routes could be configured in different ways, to consider options for new routes and whether fares could be better structured to reflect different levels of isolation, economic fragility etc. between different islands;
- consult with SSACs on possible future route developments and feed these to the Scottish Executive for consideration;
- comment to the Scottish Executive when asked on future research projects;
- consider strategic or unresolved complaint cases that are referred to it from the SSACs, and if necessary refer matters to the Scottish Executive;
- report on an annual basis to the Scottish Ministers on the Committee's work, including input from each of the SSACs, reporting on their activities. In essence, the SSACs would report to the Scottish Ministers through the SFC;
- provide a focus for the views of SSACs to the Scottish Ministers on future service developments.
AIR TRANSPORT USERS COUNCIL ( ATUC)
24. Section 4(1) (b) of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 gives the Civil Aviation Authority ( CAA) a duty to "further the reasonable interests of users of air transport services." The CAA established the Air Transport Users Council ( ATUC) to assist it in that duty.
25. The ATUC consists of the Chair and not more than 19 and not less than 11 members. Appointment of the Chair is made by the CAA. Appointment of members is made by the CAA on the advice of the Chair of the ATUC. Such appointments are for a term of 3 years which may be renewed for a maximum of one further term of 3 years. However, the fact that a member has served for a maximum period will not necessarily preclude his or her serving as Chair beyond the end of that time. No employee of the CAA may be a member of the ATUC. Members are appointed as individuals and not as delegates of any particular interest group. They represent as wide a range as possible of personal experience as users of air transport services.
26. Functions of the ATUC:
- to investigate complaints against the suppliers of air transport services where the person or body aggrieved has not been able to obtain satisfaction from the supplier concerned and to seek a resolution where appropriate;
- to advise passengers, either directly or through the media, on how to make the best use of air transport services including, where appropriate, the publication and promotion of educational and statistical material;
- to formulate and promote policies furthering the reasonable interests of passengers and to represent them to regulatory authorities (both in general and in relation to specific proposals), service providers and the media;
- at the ATUC's discretion, to co-operate with or be a member of any airport consultative committee;
- at the ATUC's discretion, to co-operate with or be a member of any consumer group, national or international, which can further the reasonable interests of passengers;
- to carry out or commission research in support of the above objectives, if appropriate.
27. The ATUC is funded by the CAA. It is permitted to obtain additional project funding and co-funding from other sources. The ATUC makes an annual report to the CAA and publishes it. Operational and financial objectives and performance indicators are agreed from time to time with the CAA. The ATUC is subject to CAA internal audit requirements.
MOBILITY AND ACCESS COMMITTEE FOR SCOTLAND ( MACS)
28. The MACS Regulations 2002 were made under Section 72 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001. MACS is an advisory Non Departmental Public Body ( NDPB) and was launched in May 2002. It was established to advise the Scottish Ministers on the transport needs of disabled people and how to improve the accessibility of transport, more specifically to:-
- give Scottish Ministers advice on aspects of policy affecting the travel needs of disabled people;
- take account of the broad views and experiences of disabled people when giving advice;
- ensure that disabled people throughout Scotland are aware of travel developments which affect their mobility, choices and opportunities;
- work closely with the Scottish Executive and ensure that MACS work programme complements work being undertaken by the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee ( DPTAC), the Disability Rights Commission and other organisations in the voluntary and statutory sector;
- promote the travel needs of disabled people with transport planners and operators so that these are fully taken into account in the delivery of services;
- monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of their work against the above aims and objectives in improving travel opportunities for disabled people in Scotland.
29. MACS holds 6 main committee meetings per year. Members are also involved in a number of working groups. Each year MACS issues a Programme of Work and produces a report which is laid before Parliament. Since 2002 MACS has responded to over 24 consultation documents and taken part in more than 23 working groups.
30. MACS membership comprises a Convenor and at least 9 but not more than 14 other members appointed by Scottish Ministers following an open recruitment process. At least one half, including the Convenor, must be disabled. Members are invited to serve for 3 years.
DEVOLVED AND RESERVED MATTERS
31. BUCT and MACS are statutory bodies dealing with devolved issues. The proposed non-statutory ferry committees would also deal with devolved issues. The RPC and ATUC are reserved to Westminster.
USER REPRESENTATION IN OTHER PARTS OF THE UK
32. The London Transport Users' Committee ( LTUC) covers a specific geographic area, as will the PTUC. Its remit is to investigate suggestions and complaints from users who are dissatisfied with the response received from the service provider and to promote integrated transport policies and press for better public transport services, higher standards of quality, performance and accessibility; and to conduct research, produce publications, liaise with service operators, transport regulators and local authorities. In turn, transport operators must consult with LTUC on any proposed changes to their services or closures of lines or services. The remit covers transport in and around London including the Underground, the National Rail network, London's bus network, Docklands Light Railway, Croydon Tramlink, taxis and other users of the Greater London road network.
33. The Transport (Wales) Bill proposes powers for the Welsh Assembly Government to establish a PTUC for Wales.
34. The General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland is a statutory body whose aims are to promote and safeguard the interests of all consumers in Northern Ireland. The Council campaigns on behalf of consumers for the best possible standards of service and protection; undertakes research and data collection; gives advice and information and issues publications. It deals with individual complaints about passenger transport, coal, natural gas and electricity. The Council meets regularly during the year and has statutory Groups (or committees) for energy, food and transport together with a consumer education Group.
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