To ask the Minister for Infrastructure what consultation has taken place with beneficiaries of community transport provision to consider how to better meet access needs.

My Department provides grant funding to the Rural Community Transport Partnerships (RCTPs) as a contribution towards the delivery of Dial-a-Lift (DAL) services in rural areas, and to Disability Action who manage the Disability Action Transport Scheme (DATS) in urban areas. My Department has not undertaken a specific consultation with beneficiaries to consider how to better meet access needs. It has however gathered information from a number of sources in order to determine if community transport services meets the needs of the user. The sources used to gather this information are detailed below:

A report “Serving Northern Ireland – Community Transport During Coronavirus” was produced by the Community Transport Association (CTA), in November 2020, at the Department’s request (https://ctauk.org/report-serving-ni-ct-during-covid/). In order to inform the report, CTA conducted a series of interviews with its members to assess how services have shifted and hear about the hard work that was undertaken to meet new needs. The report also shares stories from passengers, as well as local councils and community groups who partnered with community transport during the covid response period.

A review, in late 2019, was undertaken of the current delivery model for community transport services funded by your Department. The review was restricted to DAL only. In undertaking this review contact was made with members/beneficiaries to seek their views of the service being provided.

Feedback has been obtained from passengers on the service as part of its spot check process. This process involves officials going out periodically to each Community Transport Organisation to ensure that the operational aspects of the services are delivered in line with best practice and Departmental requirements. It includes one of my officials going on bus journeys to talk to passengers about their view of the service. The last spot check was carried out in December 2019, prior to the onset of Covid.

My officials have regular review meetings with the managers of the RCTPS and Disability Action (DA). These meetings provide an opportunity for the managers to raise concerns expressed by their users