Scottish Government

6 Delivering the sQP

Governance

6.1 It would be good practice for transport authorities to establish a formal governance structure in advance of setting up a board to establish their sQP. The main partners (the transport authority or authorities and bus operator(s)) should lead the first stages of developing the sQP, with additional partners being brought into the process once a management structure is in place.

6.2 Once initial discussions have occurred between this core group, and the structure is in place, the main partners should seek to involve these additional partners. The key role of chair could be given to an independent figure, which could be someone from the local business community that would be well placed to help the partnership come into being and develop.

6.3 By the appointment of an independent chair it is hoped to avoid formal objections and minimise the need for any parties to seek the intervention of external parties during the life of the scheme to resolve disputes.

6.4 It is important in the preparation stage that the board should not be too large to make delivery unworkable but it is also important that all interested parties should be able to contribute at appropriate times during the development of the scheme. The partners will need to meet regularly to build relationships, formulate ideas and maintain momentum; ensuring that any early 'quick wins' are capitalised on and continued throughout the lifetime of the partnership.

6.5 Strong commitment and leadership is critical to ensuring the success of the partnership and therefore a formal management structure may help deliver successful outcomes for the sQP. Trust and mutual respect between partners is essential and the key individuals involved in the creation of the sQP should ensure that this is extended to other departments and organisations whose support will be required to deliver the sQP.

6.6 Transport authority officers should ensure that they engage as early and as fully as possible with their elected members to convey the benefits that a sQP can offer. This is essential to obtaining their full support for the partnership, as their decision making powers will influence the priorities for action at an early stage.

Figure 6.1 sQP Governance

Dispute resolution

Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 - Part 2 Bus Services Quality Partnership Schemes: Section 6(2) Making of quality partnership scheme.

6.7 sQP legislation requires that procedures for resolving any dispute between the transport authority and any operator are outlined within the scheme. In the event of a dispute between the parties where one party feels that the other is not providing their services to the required standard, then an attempt should be made to resolve the dispute internally in a positive manner. If this cannot be resolved, a professional institute or arbitrator could act as a neutral third party for more formal negotiations. The mechanism for this process will need to be agreed between the key partners - as should the repercussions for failure should the process determine that any partner has not honoured their sQP commitments

6.8 As a final resort, should the transport authority have evidence that an operator is continually failing to provide services to the agreed standards, they have the option to report them to the Scottish Traffic Commissioner. The Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 section 39(3) allows the Scottish Traffic Commissioner to impose a maximum penalty of £550 or such other amount as the Scottish Ministers may specify multiplied by the number of licences the operators are licensed to use.

6.9 Likewise, if the transport authority fails to provide the facilities as agreed, the operator cannot be held to their part of the agreement, and the likelihood is that the scheme would be postponed or revoked.

Timescales

6.10 When considering the introduction of a sQP a number of stages need to be worked through. The time taken can vary, but the introduction of a sQP cannot be seen as a quick fix, for example, for congestion or air quality problems. It is vital that clear, realistic timelines are developed at an early stage for all parties to know what they are working towards.

6.11 Glasgow City Council has estimated the earliest date from draft consultation to implementation would be approximately 8 months. This length of time is reflected in the fact that the Glasgow sQP is a major urban scheme, involving a significant number of operators and services. It is evident that other, smaller schemes will be able to progress in much shorter timescales.

6.12 Timescales are dependent on a number of factors including:

• the size of the sQP;
• if it is corridor or area based;
• the number of operators;
• the level of consultation;
• the number of transport authorities involved;
• the infrastructure involved;
• the traffic orders required; and
• the complexity of policy objectives.

6.13 Although the powers to make a sQP are contained within the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001, it is important to ensure from an early stage that legal departments of both transport authorities and the bus operators are consulted to ensure that the relevant legislation is complied with and to reduce further constraints on the delivery of the scheme.