On 4 March 2008, I asked:

"Is the Minister aware that the pleasure that pensioners and the disabled in Hove and Portslade take in their bus passes is tempered by being harried and bullied by accusations that the bus pass is responsible for the cuts in the local authority budget announced last week? What measures will my right hon. Friend take to ensure that local authority mismanagement will not stop the implementation of the free bus pass scheme?"

The Minister responsible, Rosie Winterton, said:

"My hon. Friend makes a good point. In her area the increase is some 33 per cent. It is quite wrong to scaremonger among older and disabled people about services being withdrawn, when the settlement is in fact incredibly generous. I hope that she will encourage her constituents to take up the pass and use the new freedoms that go with it."