Howell raps MMC operators' answers
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TRANSPORT SECRETARY David Howell has rapped West Midlands PTE and Cardiff City Council for their response to the criticisms made of them by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, reports our Parliamentary correspondent.
He made it clear that he was unimpressed by their response to the report (CM, August 7, 1982} and warned that he expected the Commission's recommendations to be implemented by the time he makes a further statement in the summer.
In its reply to the report, Cardiff City Council said that its implementation of recommendations of wider application should only come after talks with other local authorities and bus industry representative bodies.
But, said Mr Howell, all but two of the recommendations were based on the particular circumstances of the undertakings investigated. "I see no reason why the Council should not now take action on them."
The Council also expressed reservations about the criticisms of its budget process — and attitude sharply criticised by Mr Howell.
"I am bound to say that I do not regard constraint on local authority expenditure as an adequate reason for not attempting to relate, as vigorously as possible, planned service levels to the level of resources likely to be available."
Mr Howell also made clear his disquiet at the way the West Midlands PTE and its County Council had considered the Commission's recommendations, particularly about the engineering premium payment scheme and non-manual staff levels. In a joint statement, the two bodies rejected the recommendation that there should be a review of non-manual staffing levels, an attitude Mr Howell said was "disappointing".
He also criticised their unwillingness to accept the idea that the Department of Transport should take a leading part in publishing unit costs information. This was accepted by the other operators as something that should be discussed.
Mr Howell was more satisfied with the response of the National Bus Company to the criticism of its Bristol and Trent subsidiaries.
He hoped NBC would be able to make progress in the key areas of value for money audit, monitoring efficiency, production planning in workshops, operating ratios and load factors of individual services, peak/off peak costing and on bus replacement policies.