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Public Transport

The issue has been raised by a number of Members. The hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham, for instance, said that his local authority did not necessarily want to participate. Some smaller district councils have said that they would prefer the county councils to carry out this function. We said in our response to the Select Committee report that, later this year, we would consult on whether the function of district councils should be transferred to county councils. As I am sure Members will appreciate, the matter is not necessarily as clear-cut as it may seem. The concessionary fares element represents a considerable part of the budgets of some district councils.. A number of issues need to be taken into account as we move from a system that includes an element of rate support grant to a new system, but we have said that we will consult on it.